Coin Profile: Year of the (Maltese) Ox
Struck by the Germania Mint for Malta, new scalloped silver €5 and €10 coins honor the endangered Maltese Ox with selective plating, low mintages, and striking relief.
In late 2025, the Germania Mint, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Malta, struck 1- and 2-ounce silver €5 and €10 coins for Malta to honor a highly endangered ungulate native to the island, the Maltese Ox. Both issues are scalloped-edged and are selectively plated with ruthenium and yellow gold, with the €10 issue colorized. Part of a multi-year program honoring Maltese fauna, these two coins have mintages limited to 1,000 pieces for the €5 issue and 500 for the €10 issue.
Courtesy of Germania Mint.
The Maltese Ox, or Gendus, has longstanding cultural significance in Malta. Indigenous to the island and used for centuries as a working animal due to its strength, large size, and docile temperament, the ox’s population plummeted as agriculture in Malta was increasingly mechanized over the twentieth century. No purebred specimens survive today, but conservation efforts have resulted in a small and stable, nearly genetically pure population. Over the last few years, the Germania Mint has produced a series of coins honoring different facets of Maltese history and culture, including the island’s fauna. The Ox was a natural addition to that series.
Including this year’s Ox coins, three Maltese animals have thus far been commemorated with coins from the Germania Mint. The Maltese Eagle has been featured on silver and gold coins of varying weights each year since 2023. In 2024, two silver coins very similar to those honoring the Ox were issued for the Maltese Bee, both 1- and 2-ounce, with a similar scalloped profile and selective plating. The 2-ounce “Maltese Bee” coin won the Best Crown Coin category at the 2025 Coin of the Year awards and the Most Beautiful European Denomination Coin CEDA (Coupure Euro De l’Année) award from Les Amis des L’Euro.
The 1- and 2-ounce coins honoring the Maltese Ox are identical in shape, with a scalloped profile and selective plating, depicting the Ox’s head on the obverse and Malta’s coat of arms on the reverse. Each set within a circular border, the face of the coin bears what the Germania Mint’s web page for the issues describes as, “flowing lines representing the wind—creating a sense of motion and lightness, while emphasizing the animal’s strength and majesty,” and “Maltese symbols” on the back.
The plating is different for the two denominations; the 1-ounce version has the inner rim gold-plated and the central circular device bearing the coat of arms with ruthenium, while the 2-ounce is entirely ruthenium-plated with yellow gold-plated highlights and colorization on the ox’s head. The 2-ounce version is somewhat wider, at 45 millimeters in diameter, compared to the 1-ounce’s 38.61 millimeters. The 2-ounce version is in high relief format. Both coins are .9999 fine silver, and each is numbered.
Both are packaged in lens capsules and set in boxes: the 1-ounce in a square wooden display box and the 2-ounce in a hexagonal wooden display box with decorative details matching those on the coin. Both packages include certificates of authenticity.
The Germania Mint’s silver coins are not the only issues to honor the Maltese Ox in 2025. The Royal Dutch Mint struck 40,000 examples of a base-metal, bi-metallic €2 coin depicting the animal. The Maltese Bee was similarly honored last year.
You may also like:
