One of Stuart Devlins old 1964 coin designs is resurrected for the Royal Australian Mint’s latest bullion coin

Coming from a very quiet place, the Royal Australian Mint has turned its sights on the every expanding bullion coin market with a renewed vigour. With their neat triangular Australian Shipwrecks series, the Dolphin series and the Lunars, amongst others, the RAM has fully embraced this burgeoning genre. They’ve now expanded the selection further with a new pair of one-ounce coins, one in silver, one in gold.

Stuart Devlin is a coin legend Down Under. Born in 1931, he became a teacher specialising in the working of gold and silver. Obtaining a post at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, he studied for a Diploma of Art in gold and silversmithing. After spending time in London, he returned to Melbourne, and in 1964, won a competition to design Australia’s new decimal currency. Some of the designs, like the beautiful Mob of Roos, have become icons in Oz, The RAM have unearthed from their archives, another of Devlin’s designs from the Sixties.

It depicts a map of Australia over a globe filled with a pattern of latitudinal and longitudinal lines, all under a representation of the Southern Sky stars. It looks good, although very Australian, so its appeal may not travel as well as the wildlife designs. We like it however, for exactly that reason. We’re particularly pleased to see the background field design employed on the obverse behind the obligatory effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

Available in 0.9999 silver or 0.9999 gold, the coin has an uinlimited mintage, although we wouldn’t expect that to mean huge numbers would result. Each coin is sold encapsulated and is available to pre-order now from several dealers, with that liable to spread. Shipping is to be confirmed, but give the current chaos, there may be delays.

MINTS DESCRIPTION

Beneath the Southern Skies is a stunning gold and silver investment coin series. It pays homage to Stuart Devlin, whose artwork appears on most Australian circulating coins.

One of Devlin’s early drafts was the inspiration for this new series. The design acknowledges the significance of the Southern Cross constellation, which is one of the most meaningful and recognisable features in the southern skies. The gold coin is ethically produced Australian metal with three layers of security. Both coins are minted to .9999 purity and manufactured to the Royal Australian Mint’s brilliant uncirculated finish.