5 oz Pure Silver Coin – Niue Island 2020 – 10 Dollars

It is a fundamental belief in Buddhism that every person is born under the blessing and protection of a certain Bodhisattva or Buddha. The Eight Protectors are each associated with a specific Zodiac animal and bless all who are born in the year of that particular Zodiac. They are also perceived as guardians of the cardinal and semi-cardinal directions.

The Goddess of Mercy with One Thousand Hands is the guardian of the Rat zodiac. Commonly known as Guan Yin (千手千眼观音观音) in Chinese or Senju Kannon in Japanese, the Goddess of Mercy has one thousand hands with one thousand eyes on each arm. These arms and eyes are all-seeing and signify the Goddess of Mercy’s ability to ease all suffering in this world, and hence is often propitiated for blessings and protection.

The collectible features the Goddess of Mercy resting upon a lotus flower – the symbol of purity and perfection. The different objects held in her hands are her tools of salvation, with each of her arms extended outward as a show of her benevolence and compassion. The silhouette of her profile and name in Chinese is applied on an ultra-high relief to deliver an exact and revered profile of the Bodhisattva. Together with a purposeful dark finishing, this Goddess of Mercy with One Thousand Hands appears vivid and real. On the obverse sits the zodiac wheel with the Rat atop to symbolize her role as its guardian, and the Taoist symbol of Bagua with a round-shaped yin-yang behind the legal tender of Niue Island, the official effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

A new minting technique called “Bi-Metal Plus” was applied to give this piece its remarkable weight and 120mm diameter size – triple the size of the regular 2 oz collectible. This is made possible by combining 28.5 oz of copper embodied within two layers of 99.9 fine-silver totaling 5 oz, to deliver a super ultra-high relief topped with silver antiqued finishing.