2022 Silver 1 oz Cameroon Mandrill Monkey Coin BU

The 2022 1 oz Cameroon Mandrill Monkey Silver Coin is the third anniversary of Scottsdale Mint's Cameroon Mandrill Series, one of the most eye-catching wildlife bullion programs currently available on the collector market. This coin pays homage to the mandrill, Africa's most colorful primate, in an up close and personal reverse design that is quite unique in mainstream bullion coinage. Struck in .999 fine silver and finished to Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) standard.

This is a 500 Francs CFA ( Cameroonian Francs Comptants) private minted coin by Scottsdale Mint, an ISO 9001:2015 certified private minting facility based in Arizona, USA, in collaboration with the Republic of Cameroon, official legal tender issued by the Cameroonian Government.

Each year the mandrill is produced is one of the most popular limited edition wildlife coins in its denomination, with a total mintage of only 10,000 pieces worldwide. The 2022 design follows in the series tradition, featuring the mandrill with its teeth and tongue in a stylised jungle setting to depict the raw, intense character of this amazing primate.

The Cameroon Mandrill Series: Annual Releases

The Cameroon Mandrill Series is a new issue from Scottsdale Mint and the Republic of Cameroon, introduced in 2020. A new design is issued each year showing the mandrill in various poses and compositions, but all with the same fundamental specifications:

Only 10,000 coins will be released per release. Scottsdale Mint has also released a Gold Proof edition of the series at a higher premium, with the silver being the entry level offering for collectors following the series.

The Reverse Design: Mandrill Close-Up

A major aspect of what makes this coin series stand out from typical wildlife bullion is the reverse side. The designers at Scottsdale Mint selected an extreme close-up portrait of the mandrill's face, which is confrontational, vivid and impossible to ignore — rather than a wide naturalistic view.

The mandrill is shown facing to the left, with its jaws open and teeth bared, and its tongue visible. This isn't an aggressive or threatening stance in mandrill behaviour, it's a natural expression of these highly social animals, and helps them communicate with each other within the troop. In silver, however, it creates a dramatic, immediate background when pitched against a stylised jungle backdrop of foliage and dense tropical vegetation.

Cleaning the field of the mandrill portrait itself, the reverse inscriptions are "1 TROY OUNCE .999 FINE SILVER".

The design prominently features the innate and spontaneous nature of the mandrill, as described by the numismatic press as "the primal, aggressive side of these intensely social animals. The high relief striking technique used by Scottsdale Mint is particularly well suited to this series, highlighting the facial structure, the ridge-and-groove pattern of the colorful face of the mandrill and the depth of the jungle background.

The Obverse Design: Republic of Cameroon Coat of Arms

On the obverse is the official coat of arms of the Republic of Cameroon adopted in 1998. The emblem features:

• In the center is a shield adorned with the Scales of Justice symbolizing Cameroon's adherence to the Rule of Law.
• The central element is a shield with the Scales of Justice, symbolizing the Rule of Law, which is an integral part of Cameroon's commitment.
• Two crossed fasces (swords) sidelong to the shield, symbolizing authority and national unity.
• Inscriptions of national motto, national name and denomination

The obverse bears inscriptions that indicate its face value of 500 Francs CFA and the year of mintage (2022), making it a legal tender that was minted by the Cameroonian government.

As a nation with both institutional structure and extraordinary natural heritage, this deliberate visual contrast between a formal national emblem on the obverse and a bold wildlife close-up on the reverse is indicative of Cameroon's identity.

About the Mandrill: Africa's Most Striking Primate

The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is one of the most strikingly colored creatures in the world and undoubtedly the most recognizable primate in Africa. The mandrill is the star of the rainforests and forested savannas of southern Cameroon and neighboring equatorial African nations, and, naturally, the natural choice for a coin series bearing the name of the country.

Taxonomy and Classification

The mandrill is a member of the Cercopithecidae, or Old World monkey family, which is the largest primate family, comprising 138 species of primates in 38 genera. In this family, the mandrill is grouped with just one other species, the Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), a closely related, but somewhat smaller primate found in Cameroon and Nigeria.

Though superficially similar to baboons, mainly in terms of body structure, mandrills and baboons are not as closely related as they seem. The mandrills are an African forest species, whereas baboons are mainly savanna dwellers.

Appearance: The Color Signal

The most distinctive feature of the mandrill is its unparalleled colourful face, the most colourful of any terrestrial mammal. Adult males develop:

• Lightly refracts in the structure of the skin to form brilliant blue and violet ridges on the sides of the muzzle (without pigment)
• Golden red along the nose, central ridge and lower lip.Gold red on lower lip, central ridge and nose.
• Yellow hair with yellow throat

These colors do not serve a purely decorative purpose, they are communicative. Males with the most intense coloring in their face have the highest rank in the troop's social structure. Males are brightest in color and lower-ranking males are duller. Colours of males fade when they lose their dominance. This color dynamic is what has led to the mandrill being one of the most studied animals used in primate behavioral studies.

Social Structure: Life in the Horde

Mandrills are one of the most gregarious of primates, and live in groups, or hordes, that may contain dozens of individuals, and at some time of year, they can congregate in super-hordes of several hundred animals, the largest primate gatherings ever recorded.

However, in the horde, the consistent social unit is the female and the daughters, who are living together throughout the year. Adult males, on the other hand, are generally more solitary, and only come out of their hiding spots during the mating season, when the dominant males return to the horde to fight for the rights to a female.

Communication is rich and complex, with a wide variety of facial expressions, vocalisations and scent-marking behaviours that are the hallmarks of the mandrill's status among the more cognitively advanced primates.

Diet: Omnivores of the Forest Floor

Mandrills are omnivores and are found on the rainforest floor of Cameroon where a diverse range of food can be found. They feed on:

• Fruit – staple food when in season!
• Seeds, roots and bulbs
• The fungus together with leaves and leaf fragments
• What do you think you see?What kind of animals do you think you are seeing here? Invertebrates? Beetles, insects, ants?
• Small vertebrates, birds, small reptiles, and mammals opportunistically

The flexibility of these diets – that is, the capacity to make use of whatever the forest can provide at a particular time of year – is one of the reasons for the survival of the mandrill and its success as a species in the wide variety of habitats found in Central Africa.

Conservation Status

The mandrill is now listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Primary threats include:

• Loss of habitat due to deforestation and agricultural development in Central Africa
• Bushmeat hunting, which includes primates like bushmeat, is one of the most important types of hunting in the country.
• Forest fragmentation - isolation and loss of genetic variation

The mandrill is given undue importance in Cameroon, the country that has some of the last intact rainforest areas in Africa outside of the Congo Basin. Cameroon's collaboration with Scottsdale Mint on this coin series has been described in part as a plea for wildlife stewardship – to draw international attention to a familiar animal facing dire threat in the wild.

Why This Coin Appeals to Both Collectors and Investors

For Silver Investors:

• Investment grade fine silver .999, consistent with the highest quality silver bullion coins issued by the U.S. Treasury and the Canadian Government; 1 troy oz..999 investment grade fine silver in 1 troy oz. denominations, consistent with the highest level of purity found on American Silver Eagles and Canadian Maple Leafs.
• Liquidity backed by the sovereign, legal tender with the Republic of Cameroon;
• Scottsdale Mint is an ISO 9001:2015 certified mint adhering to the ASTM standards that are applied to banking-grade products.
• Historically, Scottsdale-branded products sell at higher resale premiums than private mint rounds.Scottsdale branded products have had better resale premiums than private mint rounds in the past.

For Collectors:

• Worldwide mintage of 10,000 coins, which is one of the lowest mintages for a major annual wildlife silver bullion coin.
• Annual series: The design changes every year, and the completion of the series keeps collectors buying the series year after year;
• Unique design: The close up mandrill portrait with an open jaw is truly one-of-a-kind among the silver bullion mainstream.
• Gold Proof companion: Collectors who purchase the silver BU and Gold Proof 2022 have a pair from the same year and design.

For Wildlife Enthusiasts and Gift Buyers:

• One of the most striking, and more understated than is often seen in collectible silver coins, is the mandrill.
• The coin is guaranteed to be presented in an airtight protective capsule, and no further packing is needed.
• The conservation context gives life to the coin and makes it so meaningful to the buyer that he or she feels part of the bigger picture of Cameroon's wildlife legacy.

Buy the 2022 Cameroon Mandrill Coin at BOLD

BOLD Precious Metals offers the entire Cameroon Mandrill Series from Scottsdale Mint, and will be able to help collectors complete the overarching set for the year. Domestic shipping is free on all orders $199 and higher, and volume pricing is available for multiple coin orders.

Each coin is packaged in its air-tight capsule for display or storage. Call our bullion experts with any questions regarding series availability, grading options or the accompanying Gold Proof series.

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