Royal Australian Mint releases its fourth annual Sydney fireworks silver coin

For the fourth year in succession the Royal Australian Mint is celebrating the city of Sydney and its bringing in of the New Year. Famous for its epic midnight firework display, and for being amongst the first major cities to move into the latest calendar year, the display is televised and watched by up to one billion people worldwide. Held in Sydney’s famous harbour, home of the Harbour Bridge and the iconic Sydney Opera House, around a million people congregate there to watch it live.

The debut 2014 coin was an ounce in weight, struck to a proof finish, and incorporated a hologram effect. It was boxed and had a 15,000 mintage. For 2015 the series experienced a big change, with a drop in weight to ½oz and a drop in mintage to 5,000. Finish changed to frosted-uncirculated and the box gave way to a pretty nice gatefold card. That remained the case last year and remains the case today. This was envisaged as a ten coin series and we’d be surprised if the format changed again.

Very similar to previous coins, the 2017 coin concentrates on the bridge with an interesting view of it from below. The background has a very colourful, stylised depiction of a firework display. The inscription ‘SYDNEY’ & ‘NEW YEAR’S EVE’ are placed in the lower portion of the reverse face. The obverse is the Queen’s effigy, of course. Gets the job done, it’s a decent design, although not up to the standards of the excellent 2016 coin, which remains the series highlight for me so far. It sells for $60 AUD and is available to order now.