A perennial fixture on the numismatic calendar for longer than AgAuNEWS has been alive, the Perth Mint/Downies series ‘Deadly and Dangerous’ was once one of the hottest coin ranges around. Early issues of this series, garnered significant aftermarket appreciation, with the 2006 Red-Back Spider issue becoming almost legendary. The series doesn’t attract quite as much attention in these busier times, but it remains popular enough, so here we are with the 18th release.

It’s a testament to Australia’s fauna that anything survives down there in an ecosystem filled with some of the nastiest predators on the planet. The fact we’re 18 coins in and only now showing off the second-deadliest shark on the planet is certainly telling, although we did have some relative lightweights for a few years. The design is one of the best to date, with the employment of a classic ‘shark jaw’ border a new addition that lifts it somewhat. The depiction of the shark is spot-on, and all told, a great addition to a stalwart series.

There’s a 1 oz silver coin, of course, (2,500 mintage) and also a 1 oz gold (99). Oddly, the former is issued for the usual Tuvalu, but the gold carries Niue’s emblem and denomination. Both are available to order from Downies now, and from other dealers, no doubt. To celebrate this launch, we’ve refreshed our old Coin Series Profile of Deadly & Dangerous. It looks a lot better, although a lot of the earlier images are much smaller than our favoured 1200 pixel format. We’ve reached out to Downies for better ones.

AgAuNEWS REVISED COIN SERIES PROFILE TO THIS SERIES