2 oz Pure Silver Coin – Niue Island 2021 – 5 Dollars

Before Ne Zha was a deity, he was a boy with superhuman powers and armed with heavenly weapons. This piece tells the early chapters of Ne Zha’s story starting with him killing the Dragon King’s son, Ao Bing, with his superhuman strength and power. The most common narrative explains that Ne Zha had been playing with his weapons in the Eastern Seas, disturbing the Dragon King of the East Sea who sent his son Ao Bing to subdue him. In the fight that ensued, Ne Zha defeated and killed him, leading to a series of events that led to his suicide and thereafter, reincarnation as a deity.

On the reverse of this artifact, the scene of Ne Zha defeating the Dragon King’s son is implanted beautifully. A careful balance of fine details results in a youthful-looking Ne Zha with delicate skin, contrasted with deep lines on his clothing as well as the dragon’s scales. The dragon struggles and arches against the Red Armillary Sash tied around him, which Ne Zha grips and controls effortlessly in one hand, the Universe Ring in the other. Being the first of his weapons, the Universe Ring is intentionally accented in gold to highlight the importance of this weapon, as well as Ne Zha’s mastery of it. The events on this face of the collectible foreshadow the appearance of the Wind-and-Fire Wheels on the obverse, where it circles around the official effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. While not existent in this part of the mythology yet, the Wind-and-Fire Wheels would eventually become Ne Zha’s most outstanding weapon; his signature in the folk tales, and thus implanted on this piece.

With the use of 2 oz of 999 pure silver combined with 11.5 oz of copper, this piece boasts an impressive size of 80mm for its weight. This is made possible through the use of a technique called Bi-Metal Plus which allows for an ultra-high relief topped with silver antiqued finishing.