Australia’s iconic Koala coins are more popular than ever. The Perth Mint of Australia has launched a new coin series of 2008 proof gold Koalas, its first Gilded Koala and their second pure silver Koala. Each bullion coin depicts the "cuddly" koala and her baby sitting on a tree branch.

All coin versions bear the same obverse or heads design with Ian Rank-Broadley’s effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, are Australian legal tender, and include the "P" mint mark, denoting The Perth Mint. Read the rest of this entry »

The Perth Mint of Australia has launched an innovative rotating coin commemorating the first man in space. The legal-tender, 1 oz silver coin celebrates the journey of Yuri Gagarin, who became the first person to enter space and orbit Earth for 1 hour 48 minutes aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961.

The limited minted coin marks the second release in the Perth Mint’s successful Orbit and Beyond Coin Series.

Gagarin’s flight ushered in a new era of manned space exploration that the 2008 Yuri Gagarin silver proof coin memorializes in a most unique way.

The .999 fine silver coin is constructed to rotate or "orbit" around a central brass representation of a colorful earth.

Equally colorful is the outer reverse or tails design bearing a "montage of images" symbolizing Gagarin’s journey and the border inscriptions "1961 FIRST MAN IN SPACE – YURI GAGARIN."

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The Perth Mint of Australia announces an array of beautiful 2008 collector coins for worldwide release. The striking of the new silver and gold coins include: First Australian Koala Proof Series, 90th Anniversary of the End of World War I, 2008 Good Fortune Gold Proofs, Christmas Island Silver Proofs, Prince of Wales 60th Birthday Silver Proofs, and the Mythological Chinese Character Series.

The series of coins will be available on The Perth Mint website for ordering soon, with release dates set for 10 July 2008.

First Australian Koala Proof Coin Series

The Perth Mint is proud to announce an iconic new series of proof quality 99.99% pure gold coins.

Introduced in response to collector desire for an Australian gold coin series depicting the Mint’s popular koala design theme, these stunning numismatic releases are meticulously struck in proof quality.

Available in three denominations, the Australian Gold Proof Koala is the first Perth Mint series to include a 1oz ‘high relief’ coin. The spectacular release is struck on a significantly thicker blank to accommodate the greater design depth on its specially prepared die.

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In a move that foreshadows the multi-million dollar redevelopment of The Perth Mint’s retail and exhibition facilities, Gold Corporation – the Mint’s operator – has appointed Acumen Design as exhibition design consultants.

One of Perth’s leading tourism attractions and winner of 11 Tourism Awards since 2000, the 109-year old Perth Mint opened its doors to the public in 1992, and since then it has welcomed in excess of 1 million visitors.

Chief Executive Officer Ed Harbuz said that the time to update visitor facilities was well overdue.

"The Perth Mint is an exciting experience for many visitors to the capital of Western Australia. However, the retail and exhibitions areas have changed little since the early 1990s and a radical overhaul is required to ensure it meets modern expectations of interactivity, entertainment and education, while paying heed to the Mint’s heritage significance."

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The Perth Mint struck and launched a silver proof commemorative coin celebrating the 25th anniversary of Australia II, which became the first challenger ever to win the America’s Cup on 26 September 1983.

The Australian legal tender coin is made of 99.9% pure silver, contains one full ounce, and has a very limited mintage ceiling of 5,000.

The very attractive coin comes with a unique piece of history — a fragment of sailcloth taken from Australia II’s genoa, and worn as she crossed the finish line at the end of the decisive seventh race.

Speaking in front of Australia II at the Western Australian Maritime Museum, John Longley AM said, "Although the victory was won 25 years ago, it still seems like yesterday to me and the crew. So, for The Perth Mint to honour our efforts with the release of this magnificent coin, so long after the event, it is quite humbling."

The coin’s reverse depicts the 12-metre yacht with a coloured representation of her spinnaker bearing the famous identification number KA-6.

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The Perth Mint of Australia is offering a unique set of silver proof World War II fighter plane coins for collectors. The Perth Mint is known for their production of themed legal tender coins, but this latest series of coins directly touches the history of five different countries and their mintage limit is capped to a very low quantity of 1,500 sets.

The World War II Fighter coins are striking in appearance with their proof quality and one ounce of 99.9% silver content. The colorized coins come within a 5-coin set. Each coins pays tribute to five World War II fighter plane designs.

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The Perth Mint of Australia has minted silver and gold commemorative coins celebrating the World Youth Day 2008, the largest youth event in the world organised by the Catholic Church and held in Sydney from July 15-20, 2008.

Hundreds of thousands of participants will celebrate at the event along with his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, who will be visiting Australia for the first time.

To commemorate the XXIII World Youth Day, the Mint created a set of limited edition one ounce silver and gold coins depicting the Pope. The coins are now available for sale and two have already been given in a ceremony to Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney.

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The Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957. The world’s first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, but it didn’t bounce like one.

It’s impact was instead a world-wide event that marked the start of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Setting aside country affiliation and pride, Sputnik was a huge technological achievement and is worthy of celebration on the eve of its 50th Anniversary.

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