Category Archives: Australian Gold Coins
Perth Unveils Its Most Expensive Coin This Year: The Discovery
The Perth Mint unveils its most expensive gold coin ever. On September 4th, 2018 Perth showed off its two kilograms or 4.4 lbs gold coin they call Discovery to the rest of the world. This Australian gold coin is a .999 quality gold coin encrusted with four pink diamonds that are worth more than $1.8 million. This coin was created to meet the demand by the ultra-rich for high-end, exclusive collectables. The Perth Mint is famous worldwide for creating high quality coins that end up becoming sought after coins amongst collectors. The coin shows off a ship a gold prospector and baobab trees and is considered legal tender. So far, it is the most valuable coin ever created by Perth mint or any Australian mint and will be sold to the highest bidder.
According to Perth mint, the coin depicts an inspirational rags to riches tale that is all too common in the gold industry in Australia. The coin is expected to be sold to Asian or Middle Eastern buyers. It’s no secret that Asians and Middle Eastern people are more inclined to acquiring the most expensive gold items as they hold gold in high regard. The most attractive aspect about the gold coin is of course the diamonds which are even more expensive because they are pink. The diamonds themselves were mined from the world renowned Argyle Mine located in a region known as the Kimberley region in the remote part of Western Australia.
The four diamonds could easily be an entire year’s production for the mine making this much more valuable and giving the coin a definite appreciation with time. Coloured diamonds are more expensive than clear diamonds, pink or red diamonds particularly are worth over 50 times more than white diamonds. Pink diamonds are found in special places, a handful of precious gems miners find Pink diamonds. Rio Tinto is known as the one mining company that mines most pink diamonds. The fact that the stones used in Discovery were discovered in a remote mine, not known for prolific diamond production. Rio Tonto itself holds a pink diamond sale every year that draws a lot of global attention. Most of the stones that go on sale fetch no less than $1 million carats.
Because of their rarity and the appreciation of gold, the coin is the best investment anyone can make.
“Discovery” is not the first expensive coin minted by the Perth Mint. Over the years, the Mint has produced some spectacular coins for discerning lovers of fine, luxury items. Some people buy gold bullion simply as an investment, others buy bullion coins to add to their collections whilst others will buy that one special coin no one is likely to ever have. These special, once in a lifetime coins are so rare and so expensive that the buyer’s names are kept a secret and the sale kept a secret. The “Discovery” coin was modelled from the “Holey Dollar” which has been the Degas or Monet of the coin collection world sold to a private collector for $AUD 495,000 in 2013. There might be more than one Holey Dollar out there, but the “Discovery” is a unique coin that will attract special investors.
Source:
- http://coinsblog.ws/2018/09
- https://investopress.com/australia-most-valuable-legal-tender-collector-coin
The Royal Australian Mint Commemorates 250th Anniversary Of Captain Cook’s Voyage With Gold Coin
Captain Cook is an important figure in the history of Australia. It has been 250 years since the British Naval captain embarked on his first voyage in 1768 to find the Southern Continent along the Pacific Ocean. Cook set sail on the “HM Bark Endeavour.” To commemorate this, The Royal Australian Mint is releasing a high-end 3-coin series.
This is a continuation of the Royal Australian Mint program of gold coins depicting the night skies launched a couple of years ago. The series known as the “Southern Sky” and “Northern Sky” coins insists of coins wrapped in a one-ounce gold dome.
The Gold Coin Design
The new Captain Cook series of commemorative coins was created by designer and sculptor, Gary Breeze. He has worked with the Royal Mint before on the design of the “75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain’s ” 50p commemorative coin in 2015.
The design is based on the 18th-century maps of Captain Cook’s voyage. There is a map of the Southern Hemisphere etched on the coin. The concave face has fine details of the voyage bordered by inscriptions. These coins will be released over three years and will chart the progress and discoveries of Cook’s epic voyage.
How much will these gold coins cost
These coins do more than honour Captain Cook but they pay tribute to the man’s spirit of adventure. There is a lot that was discovered by Cooks sojourns, he may have never reached the fabled Southern Continent but he made some important discoveries. The three coins have a central uniting image, “The Endeavour.” The ship that first carried the Captain to the “new world” plays centre stage. The coins come in a nice wooden presentation box and a certificate of authenticity. According to the Royal Australian Mint, only 750 coins will be made. These will sell for $2,795 AUD.
Advantages of buying these coins
These coins are a great investment because they are made of gold, which has always been a safe haven asset. There are considerable advantaged for owning gold coins:
#1. It’s a highly liquid asset. You can coins worth ten of thousands of dollars in your hand. They can be sold anywhere in the world.
#2. Gold cannot be destroyed by fire or water or any natural or man-made disaster or time itself.
#3. Gold coins don’t carry counterparty risk. They are the only financial asset that is not some entity’s be it a bank or government’s liability.
#4. The price of gold has been always in flux, but the value of gold is timeless. Unlike paper currency, gold retains it’s purchasing power for years.
#5. You don’t require any special knowledge to enjoy owning your own gold collection.
This is a beautiful collection depicting and celebrating a pioneering spirit and an important time in the history of Australia. The design incorporates text of key location point in Cook’s voyage from his departure from Plymouth, discoveries of new lands and astronomical discoveries in Tahiti.
$2,795 AUD might sound a little bit pricey, but a lot of collectors and gold bugs will be lining up to get their hands on one of these coins. At the low mintage of 750, these might just turn out to be highly collectable coins in the next couple of years.
Ref: https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/captain-cook/
http://agaunews.com/royal-australian-mint-commemorates-captain-cooks-voyage-domed-gold-coin/
Golden Legacy of the Sovereign Coin
Gold sovereigns are acknowledged as one of the oldest and most recognised gold coins largely due to their attachment to history and tradition that stems directly from the olden days of the British Empire. Weighing exactly 7.98 grams at 22 karats which basically means that the purity level (gold content) in a sovereign is 91.66 % which in turn means; each sovereign contains a net weight of 7.315 grams of gold (approx. 0.235 troy ounces of gold). The recognition for the British Gold Sovereign is unprecedented based on the fact that although most central banks around the world keeps gold reserves in the form of bullion bars that weigh 400 ounces, they also store a portion of their reserves in the form gold coins and the preferred bullion coin is usually the Gold Sovereign of Great Britain. Besides the historical attachment of the sovereign, other factors that contribute to its popularity is the traditional aspect of this coin that is a popular and valued gift at christenings, birthdays, weddings, young individuals coming of age or simply as an attractive token or jewellery piece in its own right. The only setback that the sovereign has is the gold content which runs of into fractions whereas the new breed of gold bullion coins in the ‘same class’ as the British sovereign that made their way into the market towards the end of the 60s such as the South African Krugerrand contained exactly one troy ounce of gold which is easier to comprehend from a mathematical perspective.
Although the sovereign is attached to a nominal value of just a pound sterling due to the fact that prior to 1932 the sovereign was actually used for transactions and within Great Britain was a fully circulating coin, it is currently regarded as bullion coin and in some instances some of these sovereign carry more value than their gold content and among the most valuable sovereign are the sovereigns that were struck for Edward VIII who relinquished his positions that resulted in these coins never entering market circulation and one of these coins fetched a hefty half a million pounds at an auction in 2014. Some are rumoured to be valued even higher than that especially English gold sovereigns that were minted in 1604 and those that were minted after the great coinage of 1816 when each of these coins were worth about 44.5 Guineas or £1.05). There were 3 ‘modern era’ minting of the sovereign, the first were the ones minted in the UK itself for 100 years (1817-1917), then again in 1925 and the present ‘mint run’ that started back in 1957. There is no doubt that the sovereign is among the best form of bullion to own as they are recognised and are known to grow in value that sometimes outrun their gold content. However, it is always necessary to have these coins assayed before purchase as some times these coins could weigh less due to handling and ‘chipping’ and due to English law which only recognises a sovereign to be considered as legal tender if the coin weighs 7.93787 g or more, otherwise, it is valued for its scrap gold content by most dealers.