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It can be argued that Chinese New Year/Lunar coins are one of the most popular types of coin series that exist. Many renowned government mints such as Australia’s Perth Mint and Britain’s Royal Mint have issued Lunar coins out of precious metals for decades now. The Macau Lunar coin series is a fairly obscure coin series in comparison that even most collectors have never heard of.

One major reason for this might be the unusual fact that the coins of the Macau Lunar coin series aren’t minted in Macau but in Singapore! Since 2020, the Singapore Mint has been officially authorized to produce and market the coins by the Monetary Authority of Macau. Earlier editions of the coins were however already minted before 2020 with the previous Macau Lunar Series running from 2008 until 2019.

2023 1/2 oz gold edition of the Macau Lunar coin series

Each edition of the new Macau Lunar coin series depicts one of the 12 zodiac animals on the obverse side. The outline of each animal is shaped through Portuguese-inspired tiles and appears in dazzling color. Various landmarks that can be found in the historic part of the city of Macau such as the old city walls appear on the reverse side of the coins. Three different coin editions exist: a 99.9% pure 1 oz silver coin, a 5 oz silver coin of the same purity and a 99.99% pure 1/2 oz gold coin. As the coins primarily target collectors, they are all issued with a proof finish.

A special feature of these Lunar coins is that they contain Swarovski crystals. The two silver coins each have a Swarovski crystal embedded in them and the gold coin has an outer gold ring that consists of small Swarovski crystals. Mintage numbers of the three coins are restricted to only a few thousand per issue and the coins can be bought directly from the producing Singapore Mint.