A blue whale curls through the field with its flukes raised at the upper left and its head to the right, throat pleats and flipper engraved along the underside. The name is struck in two-line script, "Blue" above "Whale." The whale's relief is frosted against a mirrored field, and no date or mark appears on this side.
Ornate capitals arch across the top reading "FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL," above a broad blank banner and a smaller blank panel. The lower rim reads "1 TROY OZ. .999 FINE SILVER," with a small "TIM" struck directly beneath the ".999."
Mint Mark TIM is struck on the reverse below the ".999"; Mint and Issuer are American Medallion Corporation (TIM era). No struck date; 1987 is an attribution pending contemporary documentation. Distributor and Designer unknown. A separate Harvest Wreath reverse is documented on the same obverse.
The Blue Whale silver round trades infrequently nationwide, with sales spread thin across more than six years. Prices have climbed sharply from around $20 in 2020 to a recent purchase near $115.
| Date | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 13, 2026 | 115.00 | Most RecentHighest EverUnverifiedPersonal purchase (Tex, eBay seller sayyestothediamond); kept as real sale |
| Dec 12, 2023 | 35.00 | |
| May 7, 2021 | 31.00 | |
| Apr 3, 2020 | 20.00 |
Scroll for full 4-sale history ↓
1987 Blue Whale TIM Silver Round — For Someone Special Reverse Overview
1987 Blue Whale TIM Silver Round is a one-ounce, .999 fine silver art round from the Texas International Mint era of American Medallion Corporation, the Houston private mint better known for its Cartoon Celebrities and Mythological Legends rounds. Unlike those licensed and themed series, this piece is a plain wildlife subject. A single blue whale takes the entire obverse, its flukes lifting at the upper left while the head sweeps to the right, with the throat pleats and one pectoral flipper engraved along the underside. The name is struck as a two-line script legend, “Blue” over “Whale,” in a flowing italic face that stands apart from the block lettering common on rounds of the period. On the documented example the whale has a frosted texture against a mirrored field, and nothing else shares that side: no date, no series name, and no mint mark.
The reverse changes the character of the piece. Instead of continuing the wildlife theme, it carries a general gift sentiment, “FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL,” in ornate Victorian-style capitals arched across the top. Below the lettering sit a broad blank banner and a smaller blank panel, and a small bowtie-shaped flourish closes the lower panel just above the bottom legend. The open banner reads as space intended for a name or a message, which would make this a presentation round as much as a bullion round. The documented example is unengraved, so that purpose is an inference from the design and not something the coin itself states. A very small “TIM” is struck on the bottom rim directly beneath the “.999,” and at ordinary photo resolution it is easily mistaken for a trademark symbol.
The subject belongs to a long tradition of wildlife designs on privately issued silver rounds. The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest animal known to have lived, and it had been protected from commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission by the mid-1960s, so it was a familiar conservation subject by the 1980s. Nothing located so far explains why it was chosen for this round, or whether other animals were issued with the same For Someone Special reverse. Both questions remain open.
Two other TIM-marked rounds are already documented on the site, the 1987 Viva Mexico TIM Silver Round and the 1987 Viva Mexico Cap and Rays TIM Silver Round. The Blue Whale shares their mint mark but not their theme, and where those rounds pair a subject with a subject-specific reverse, this one pairs its obverse with a reverse that is not tied to the whale at all.
1987 Blue Whale TIM Silver Round — For Someone Special Reverse Attribution
The struck “TIM” below the “.999” on the reverse ties this round to the Texas International Mint name under which American Medallion Corporation’s earliest production was marketed. Under the site’s standard, the maker’s identification in the legend is the Mint Mark, so Mint and Issuer are recorded as American Medallion Corporation (AMC), with TIM noted as the mint-mark era. The AMC mint page carries the corporate timeline.
No struck date appears on either side, and no dated examples, catalogs, or original sales literature for this round have been located. The year 1987 is used as an attribution, following the convention applied to the other TIM-era rounds on the site. It rests on two documented corporate events: the company was incorporated as Texas International Mint, Inc. on August 7, 1986, and it legally became American Medallion Corporation, Inc. on May 18, 1987, so TIM-marked production belongs to that early window. The round is therefore attributed to 1987, pending discovery of contemporary documentation establishing an exact release date.
No distributor is documented for this reverse, and none is attributed. Designer and engraver are likewise unknown.
1987 Blue Whale TIM Silver Round — For Someone Special Reverse Alternate Reverse
A second reverse, the Harvest Wreath Reverse, is documented on a Blue Whale that appears to share this obverse. Its companion entry is still to be written ([companion entry — add link when published]). As the listing describes it, a large “1” stands at top center above “TROY OUNCE .999 FINE SILVER” in three lines, set within a design of flowers and harvest produce. A TIM mark has not been confirmed on that reverse, and no struck date is reported. The seller of that example states that they have owned it since 1987. That describes when it was acquired, not when it was struck, and it is recorded here as a seller recollection only.
Whether the two reverses came from the same operation is unresolved, and the obverse resemblance rests on listing photographs, which cannot support a die-level match. The two varieties are catalogued separately and titled by design rather than by mint, so neither title becomes wrong if later research settles the Harvest Wreath attribution differently. One example of each reverse is documented so far.
1987 Blue Whale TIM Silver Round — For Someone Special Reverse Notes
- No struck date appears on either side of the documented example.
- The reverse banner is blank on this example; no engraving or personalization is present.
- The TIM mark was confirmed under magnification on the documented example.
- Edge type and edge inscription have not yet been recorded for this entry.
- The alternate Harvest Wreath reverse is covered under Alternate Reverse above.
1987 Blue Whale TIM Silver Round — For Someone Special Reverse References
- American Medallion Corporation AMC (Houston TX), The Texas Stacker
- 1987 Viva Mexico TIM Silver Round, The Texas Stacker
- 1987 Viva Mexico Cap and Rays TIM Silver Round, The Texas Stacker
- WorthPoint sold listing, “The Blue Whale -RARE Vintage 1 Troy Oz. .999 Fine Silver Round” (Harvest Wreath reverse) — [add URL]
- Documented example examined (this entry): For Someone Special reverse, TIM mark confirmed under magnification
- Texas Stacker Archives
