Australian Coins

The Very Highest Quality Coins...

Australian Coins Index

The History of Australian coinage begins in 1788, when the Colony of New South Wales was founded. The first coins used were Spanish Dollars, which were famously adapted to British colonial use by having the centre punched out, with the outer rim (known as a 'holey dollar') valued at 5 shillings and the central 'plug' valued at 1 shilling. Later, British coinage was exported to the colonies to circulate there, supplementing local token issues as in Britain at that time.

The first uniquely Australian coin was the 1855 Sydney mint gold sovereign, minted at the new Royal Mint branch in Sydney. This coin (along with its half-sovereign counterpart) differed from its British counterpart in that its obverse stated 'Sydney Mint Australia One (or Half) Sovereign. From 1870, Australian Sovereigns were made to the British standard, with a mintmark (either 's' for Sydney, 'p' for Perth or 'm' for Melbourne) to identify its origins.

From 1910, the Australian Pound was introduced, based on the British pre-decimal £sd system, but seperate from it. The various branches of the Royal Mint produced coins based on British equivilents, but with uniquely Australian reverse designs. In 1965, the Royal Australian Mint was founded in Canberra to produce coins for the new Australian dollar, a decimal currency that replaced the Australian Pound at £1=$2 the following year. The Perth Mint, which was previously a branch of the Royal Mint, was transfered to the Government of Western Australia in 1970, is now chiefly responsible for producing Australia's precious metal bullion issues, such as the Nugget, Koala and the Kookaburra.

Obverse of 2000 Australian Silver Kookaburra Reverse of 2005 Australian Two Ounce Silver Kookaburra
Countries
Reverse of 2000 Australian Silver Kookaburra Reverse of 2003 Australia One Dollar Silver Kangaroo
Gold Flakes in Centre of 2004 Eureka Stockade Australian Proof Silver Dollar Reverse of 2008 Australia Two Dollars Silver Kookaburra
Obverse of 2004 Australian Proof Silver Dollar Reverse of 2010 Australian 30 dollars Chinese Lunar Tiger

Australian Coins
This page contains an index of all the Australian coin pages on our site. There may be other Australian coins or sets listed on our World Coin Sets pages for different years.

Silver Chinese Lunar Calendar Coins - Series I
1999 Year of the Rabbit Silver Coins
2000 Year of the Dragon Silver Coins
2001 Year of the Snake Silver Coins
2002 Year of the Horse Silver Coins
2003 Year of the Goat Silver Coins
2004 Year of the Monkey Silver Coins
2005 Year of the Rooster Silver Coins
2006 Year of the Dog Silver Coins
2007 Year of the Boar Silver Coins
2008 Year of the Rat or Mouse Silver Coins
2009 Year of the Ox Silver Coins
2010 Year of the Tiger Silver Coins
Lunar Calendar Series - All Dates & Sizes

Silver Chinese Lunar Calendar Coins - Series II
2008 Year of the Rat or Mouse Silver Coins
2009 Year of the Ox Silver Coins
2010 Year of the Tiger Silver Coins

Silver Koalas
2007 Silver Koalas
2008 Silver Koalas
2009 Silver Koalas
2010 Silver Koalas

Silver Kangaroos
2001 Silver Kangaroos
2002 Silver Kangaroos
2003 Silver Kangaroos
2004 Silver Kangaroos
2005 Silver Kangaroos

Coin Sets
Various Australian Coin Sets
2002 World Coin Sets

Miscellaneous
2000 Sydney Olympic Coins
2001 Australian Army Centenary Silver Proof One Dollar
2001 "The Future" Silver Proof Ten Dollars
2003 Korean War Silver Proof One Dollar
2008 World Youth Day - Pope Benedict XVI One Dollar
Platinum Koalas

Specifications of Australian Silver Bullion Coins - Kookaburra & Chinese Lunar Calendar Series

Gold Nuggets
Please see our Tax Free Gold website.

Perth Mint
Chard are proud to be recognised as the sole Prime Distributor in the UK for Perth Mint bullion coin products.

Order Form

Other Australian Coins
For Australian gold coins, please look at the Australian Coins page on our Tax Free Gold website.

Buying Coins
We also buy coins, please see our We Buy Coins page.

If you want to find the value of a coin you own, please take a look at our page I've Found An Old Coin, What's It Worth?

...at the Lowest Possible Price

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