AC/DC is back! Australia returns to its favourite rock sons with a stylish new range of silver and base metal coins

Coins themed around popular music have been surprisingly popular over the last couple of years. The Royal Mint’s Queen and Elton John ranges have sold very well, but it is to Australian legends AC/DC we have to turn for the real popularity. Last year saw some cool ranges from CIT in Europe, and the Royal Australian Mint. Both were brisk sellers, and CIT followed it up with a 7″ vinyl sized silver foil that we thought was particularly innovative.

Now it’s the turn of the RAM to return to the band with a new range of coins. The one of most interest here is the one-ounce silver coin with a 30,000 mintage. Depicting band imagery rather than any specific album, it makes a great centrepiece to a collection, combining elements of many different albums with a dynamic pose by a guitar wielding musician. The record groove background field looks perfect. We can’t imagine many fans being disappointed, even if it lacks the interesting triangular shape of the last issue. Neat theming on the packaging and a $90 AUD pricetag.

While we don’t cover much in the way of base metal coins, we’re definitely making an exception for these. Six of the bands most iconic albums have elements reproduced on these miniature-vinyl styled coins. Coloured black around the centre to simulate the grooved area on the disc, they come in a larger frame (example image at bottom) which is then packaged in the same cardboard sleeves that we used to get with our single purchases a couple of decades ago. We love them, and at just $15.00 AUD each, they’re eminently affordable.

Best of all, if you purchase the set, you will get all six of the coins, as well as an extra one with the AC/DC logo on it. These all come collected in a box designed to replicate the ones used by DJ’s for storing vinyl records. It’s a brilliant idea that looks fantastic. If you like the band, or even just any music themed collectible, these have got to be appealing. This set has a cap of 30,000 units and sells for $110.00 AUD.

Our Aussie readers might like to check out the press release lower down for a chance to win one of the dies used to strike a coin.

PRESS RELEASE

The Royal Australian Mint (the Mint) is celebrating the milestone anniversaries of six AC/DC albums with six unique coin tributes, a seven coin set and a limited edition silver frosted uncirculated coin. The Royal Australian Mint Chief Executive Officer, Ross MacDiarmid, said “the Mint is proud to be issuing coin tributes to the vinyls that have electrified generations of music lovers. These coins will be highly sought after by rock ‘n’ roll fans and gift buyers alike”.

This year marks 45 years since AC/DC released their debut album High Voltage. The band’s second album T.N.T also clocks up its sapphire anniversary at the end of the year. Dirty Deeds Done Cheap will reach the milestone in 2021. With these new coin releases, the Mint is marking these significant anniversaries plus 40 years since the release of Back in Black and 25 years since the release of Ballbreaker, and the pending Ruby anniversary of For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) in 2021.

To celebrate this coin release and the anniversaries of the six AC/DC albums, the Mint is offering never-before-released production coin dies to fourteen lucky fans who purchase any of the AC/DC coins from the Mint, one of its authorised dealers or select music shops. The production coin dies on offer were used to strike the AC/DC coin – a rare and unique opportunity.

To be eligible to win a production die, participants will also need to visit the Mint’s Facebook page and post what the name of their AC/DC cover band would be and where they purchased the coin. For terms and conditions visit the Mint’s website. The competition is only open to Australian residents. More details on coin dies can be found here.

SPECIFICATION
DENOMINATION $1 AUD (Australia) $0.2 AUD (Australia)
COMPOSITION 0.999 silver Base metal (CuNi)
WEIGHT 31.1 grams 11.3 grams
DIMENSIONS 40.0 mm 28.52 mm
FINISH Frosted uncirculated Uncirculated
MODIFICATIONS None None
MINTAGE 30,000 Unlimited (Set = 30,000)
BOX / C.O.A. Yes / Yes Custom sleeve/insert