In this post we cover the Royal Australian Mint coins that have been released so far this year.

2017 Royal Australian Mint Coins

Royal Australian coins-new
 

2017 'Voice of Cricket' Richie Benaud 50c coin

Richard 'Richie' Benaud, famously called the 'Voice of Cricket' was a test cricketer, captain and all-rounder from Australia. After his retirement from International cricket, he went on to become a cricket commentator for BBC, Channel 4 and Australia's Nine Network. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 84. This year the Royal Australian Mint has released a 50c Uncirculated coin in honor of Richie Benaud's achievements as "player, researcher, writer, critic, author, organiser, adviser and student of the game." He is just the second cricketer (after Sir Don Bradman) to be immortalized in a coin. The coin's design shows Richie in his latter years as a commentator and a cricket pitch as background with his miniature younger self batting.

Kangaroo Series - Seasons Change

This second coin in the 'Kangaroo Series - Seasons Change' shows an Eastern Grey Kangaroo with its joey grazing at the springtime growth. The Kangaroo series were first released in 1993 and it's been a popular coin among collectors every year. The mintage for this coin would be 5000. As it is the second coin of the 'Seasons change' coin it depicts the connection between cycles of nature and the life cycle of a Kangaroo. The coin comes in Silver Proof and Silver Frosted versions.

Kangaroo at Sunset

Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, Kangaroo at Sunset series coin was released with the stunning yet simple design of a Kangaroo bounding across the Australian outback with an ever lengthening shadow. It has been released in both the Silver and the Gold Proof versions.

Centenary of the Trans-Australian Railway coins

After the Great Wall of China, another man-made structure that is visible from space is the 'Trans-Australian Railway'. Described by an astronaut as a 'very fine pencil line' drawn across Australia, the railway line was originally called the Great Western Express and later came to be known as the 'Trans-Australian Railway'. It is 100 years since the inauguration of the line in 1917 and the Royal Australian Mint honors it through a beautiful set of coins in Base metal, Silver and Gold Proof and Uncirculated versions. The design shows a train crossing the vast expanse of the Australian desert with the smoke billowing out from the engine.

Australian Zoo series 'Archie'

The Australian Zoo, a 100 acre facility in Queensland is home to a delightful family of dingoes, two female and a male called 'Archie'. Archie is completely white which is rare among dingoes and is much loved by his fans. The Australian Zoo series has come out with the $1 Fine Silver frosted coin showing Archie the dingo on his haunches.

75th Anniversary of the sinking of the SS Vyner Brooke

Thesinking of the SS Vyner Brooke during World War II, brings to light the horrors of war and the heartless acts of a marauding army. Comprising of a passenger list of 65 nurses from the Australian Army Nursing service and many wounded men of the allied forces, the SS Vyner Brooke left Singapore on 14th of February 1942. The ship was bombed and sunk by the Japanese forces a few days later. The survivors who landed in the Bangka islands were massacred by the Japanese Imperial army mercilessly. A lone survivor, a nurse named Vivian Bullwinkel was left to tell the sad tale to the War crimes tribunal 5 years later.

In remembrance of this cold-blooded act of war and in the honor of the men and women who lost their life, the Royal Australian Mint has come out with a '75th Anniversary of the sinking of the SS Vyner Brooke' coin. It shows the ship sinking in the waters between China and Australia and the 'SINKING OF THE S.S.VYNER BROOKE' written along the edges. It has a denomination of 20 cents and a mintage of 20,000.

2017 year of the Rooster

The Royal Australian Mint has also released the Chinese Lunar series coin 'Year of the Rooster coin' designed by award-winning coin designer Vladimir Gottwald with beautiful illustrations by Stevan Stojanovic. It shows a Rooster sitting on a low lying branch with the 'YEAR OF THE ROOSTER' written below it.It has been released in Silver, Gold and Base metal versions with Proof and Uncirculated finishes.

2017 2C Stuart Devlin bronze

Stuart Devlin, the Australian gold and silversmith extraordinaire who was commissioned to design everything under the sun from furniture to jewellery to interiors and candelabras, also designed coins for 36 countries. He is best known in Australia as the designer of the Australian decimal coins. As part of the 'Stuart Devlin -The Designer with the Midas Touch' exhibitionconducted by the Royal Australian mint, the 2 cents Stuart Devlin bronze design of a Kangaroo and its joey has been released. This was the original proposed design of the 2 cents coin.

  References 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Benaud 2. https://eshop.ramint.gov.au/Richie-Benaud-The-Voice-of-Cricket-1930-2015/311024.aspx 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Australian_Railway#History 4. https://eshop.ramint.gov.au/2017-Year-of-the-Rooster-30-Fine-Silver-Proof/210486.aspx

This entry was posted in World Coins on March 08, 2017 by lavanya kannan