Perth Mint surprises with a new one-ounce silver bullion coin series, the Silver Swan

Despite the introduction of the one-ounce Red Kangaroo bullion coin with its ten million plus sales and recurring design, the Perth Mint remains primarily known for its semi-numismatic silver bullion coin range. In production for many years, the multiple ranges all feature fauna of one sort or another, either the mundane in its lunar series, or one of the local weird or dangerous ones like the Koala and the Crocodile.

Debuting today is another one coin in the same vein, but one with a far more limited mintage. Depicting the swan, a bird very close to the Perth Mint as it’s in their logo, the coin has a similar design and layout to the famed Kookaburra and Koala silver coins. Whereas those coins have one-ounce mintages in the hundreds of thousands range, the Swan is limited to a relatively paltry 25,000 units. It’s a tiny number given the popularity of the mints bullion output and we’d expect these to sell very quickly indeed.

The design looks great in our view, a nice change from the norm. The swan seems to fit the coin shape and this bodes well for future designs, it being suggested that this series will continue and that annual designs would differ. Sold in the usual tubes or monster boxes, US dealer APMEX seems to be the major seller of these at the moment and you can buy encapsulated singles if that’s your wish. A fine unexpected release.

2017 SILVER SWAN ONE-OUNCE BULLION COIN

MINTS DESCRIPTION

The Swan is an iconic species that is so synonymous with the Perth Mint itself that it even appears in the Mint’s logo. The Perth Mint’s operations are situated in the heart of Perth, the capital and largest city of Western Australia. Founded in 1829 on the shores of the Swan River, the original colony in the territory was in fact called Swan River Colony, the location of which is now Perth.

REVERSE: The design features a beautiful swan swimming on the surface of the water. The water in the design runs underneath the legend of the coin and can be seen up to the rim of the coin. The design includes the inscription “THE 1oz 9999 AUSTRALIAN SILVER SWAN” and The Perth Mint’s “P” mintmark.

OBVERSE: The Ian Rank-Broadley likeness of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the monetary denomination and the 2017 year-date are depicted.

NAME 2017 SILVER SWAN
DENOMINATION $1 Australia
COMPOSITION 0.9999 silver
WEIGHT 31.1 grams
DIAMETER 40.6 mm
FINISH Brilliant uncirculated
MODIFICATIONS None
MINTAGE 25,000
BOX / COA No / No