I was playing around with a few round 50's I had put aside and forgotten about today when it struck that it was a little silly that when the switch over happened in 66 that the round 50 was struck in 80% silver when the $1 and $2 wasn't. I know that in the couple years prior to the changeover mint officials amongst others warned that the design for the 50c in silver would be at risk of becoming un economical to mint and so was at risk but that it was a pretty project of the government at the time. Does anyone know why the 50c particularly was chosen to be struck in silver when higher denominations were not? And why they chose to strike a single silver coin at all?
You know I'm as thick as cement. I just bought some $1 and $2 notes. I actually knew this...embarrassing.
$1 was struck in silver but there are only 1500 i think around; it was a trial then cancelled; you can find them on ebay sometimes for between $1500-2000. The current "gold" coins got introduced in 1984 i think
Rumour had it that around the time of decimilisation, there existed 2 competing camps within the mint. Those whom prefered the roumd design and those the new duodecaheadral design. The 'round' camp tried to win favour by making their design out of silver. The other camp were going to make theirs out of cheese... and would've been successful if the whole lot hadn't started arguing over which end of a hard boiled egg you're supposed to open it from
Nope. What you are referring to is privately issued.... here's the story: Source: http://www.coins-stamps.com.au/1967-pattern-goose-dollar.html The swan pattern dollar is not an official issue, although it does hold an important part in Australia's numismatic history. It has been nicknamed the "Goose dollar" by collectors and has risen in popularity in the past few years. When decimal currency was to be introduced in 1966, collectors were surprised to learn that a one dollar coin would not be included in the new issues. So, in 1965 the Australian Coin Review magazine ran a competition and the winning entry submitted to the Australian government. When this coin was rejected by the authorities, competition organizers decided to have it minted privately . In 1967 it was engraved and struck by John Pinches medallists of London. The design, by Andor Meszaros features a swan with Australia 1967 on the obverse and wattle with 100 (cents) printed on the reverse. On the obverse (swan side) at approximately 4 o'clock right next to the rim are the designers initials which may be mistaken as a scuff on the coin surface. There were 1500 specimen uncirculated silver coins issued that featured a milled edge, 750 proof pieces with a plain edge and 10 gold with the plain edge. The silver proof was originally available at $13.50 while the silver uncirculated examples were $10. All coins were originally issued in a maroon coloured case inscribed with "Australian Pattern Crown" inside the lid and in the case for the proofs, the word "proof" was added.
