I purchased this two ounce silver round from Limited Mintage a while back, but hesitated to share it with y'all since I couldn't recall if my fellow Catholic stacker had already posted about this piece.
The round is truly beautiful, both in the detail of the image and in the shear "heft" of it's two ounce weight. Just look at how chunky it looks!
I'm not certain how "limited" the mintage was but, if you're interested in grabbing one of these for yourself, there are 11 left in stock as of this posting. There is a waitlist for the one ounce version.
Let me tell you a little bit more about Our Lady of Guadalupe and how the image came to be. The following facts are sourced from the book The Wonder of Guadalupe, by Francis Johnston, which is available from TAN Books.
On the 9th of December, 1531, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico, as he walked the 15 miles to Tlaltelolco to attend Mass in celebration of the Immaculate Conception. Nowadays, Catholics celebrate Mary's Immaculate Conception without the stain of original sin on December 8th (and therefore celebrated her birth nine months later just a couple of days ago on September 8th).
The Blessed Virgin appeared to Juan Diego and asked him to carry a message to the Bishop of Mexico City, telling him that she wanted a teocalli (temple) built where she had appeared. The Bishop wasn't too receptive at first. Mary appeared to Juan two more times and agreed to supply a sign to convince the Bishop.
On December 12th, the Lady told Juan Diego to climb to the peak of Tepeyac and fill his tilma (cloak) with flowers he would find growing there. He did so, and the Blessed Mother arranged the flowers by hand and told Juan to keep his tilma folded to his chest until he was with the Bishop to again ask that a teocalli be built at the site where she appeared.
When Juan Diego opened his tilma in front of the Bishop, flowers tumbled out and the glorious image of the Mother of Christ shown above appeared on his tilma. Today, nearly 500 years later, this beautiful image still inspires Catholics around the world, and defies scientific explanation.
The natural lifespan of the ayate fibers which the tilma is woven from is around 20 years. This delicate cloak hung open to the air, and to the smoke of candles, for a century before being framed behind glass. In 1791, nitric acid that was being used to clean the gold and silver frame accidentally spilled across the image and left nothing more than a watermark. In 1921, anti-religious government agents exploded a bomb beneath it, not even cracking the glass cover. The image remains pristine.
The image is devoid of brushstrokes and could not have been painted. Infrared photography fails to show any evidence of overpainting, alterations, varnish, sizing, or even preliminary drawings that an artist might make.
Macrophotography has confirmed something first noted in 1929. Reflected images in the eyes of the portrait show Juan Diego and two people looking at him. It seems Our Lady was present in the room when Juan Diego presented the flowers to the Bishop and in that instant imprinted her image on the tilma, complete with reflections of the men in her corneas.
These are the words that the Blessed Virgin spoke to Juan Diego, 9-12 December 1531, at Guadalupe, Mexico:
"Know for certain that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God...here I will show and offer all my love, my compassion, my help and protection to the people. I am your merciful Mother, the Mother of all who love me, of those who cry to me, of those who have confidence in me. Here I will hear their weeping and their sorrows...their necessities and misfortunes...Listen and let it penetrate your heart...Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?"