Perth Mint debuts its last selection for 2017 with the theme of celebration

December is traditionally a quiet month for the big mints and the Perth Mint is no exception. Mostly a fairly generic selection of coins, there are the usual wedding and birthday issues, along with the expected celebrations of the Chinese New Year. All are issued in what has become the Perth Mint’s signature format – one ounce of fine silver with a 40.60 mm diameter and with either selective gilding or colour.

The mint has also issued some more lunar coins and for a change these aren’t variants of the bullion range, but we’ll cover those by adding them to our continually growing Year of the Dog Superguide in a day or two.

January will be a much busier month and the highlights look to be a 2oz antiqued Chinese Phoenix coin and a Scooby Doo coin featuring everyones favourite crime fighting mutt. An Opal lunar and the cool Australian War Posters series both join their respective line-ups and there’s the usual smattering of congratulatory gift coins. This months coins are available to order now.

2018 CHINESE NEW YEAR SILVER COIN

Very traditional looking design, typically Chinese, and using the standard Perth mint silver coin format (40.60 mm, 31.1g, colour). A Tuvalu issue, the coin comes in a latex-skin display frame and has a mintage of 5,000. Designed by Natasha Muhl, the coin sells for $71.82 internationally (add 8% tax for Aussie buyers)

2018 MONEY TOAD SILVER COIN

An identical coin format to the Chinese New Year coin except that selective gilding replaces the colour. Not an attractive image we have to say, but probably better than the NZ Mint effort and the money toad just seems to be one of those things that’s hard to depict attractively. Presentation is the same latex frame as the New Year coin and we’re fans of those. Designed by Ing Ing Jong, the coin has a mintage of 5,000 pieces and sells internationally for $86.36 AUS.

2018 HAPPY BIRTHDAY SILVER COIN

One for the gift market, the Happy Birthday coin is yet another standard coloured one-ounce silver coin. Packaged in a gatefold sleeve, these don’t have a set mintage and are struck to order. Designed by Jennifer McKenna, the coin sells for $90.00 AUS.

2018 WEDDING SILVER COIN

The usual annual wedding coin release experiences no changes again for 2018. Another mint to order design, this one-ounce silver coin comes in a white box with a crystal inset in the lid. The reverse has some subtle gilding, but the coin is otherwise clean. International price for this Jennifer McKenna designed issue is $99.09.