2018 Wedge-Tailed Eagle design bows out with the beautiful five-ounce high-relief silver version

A coin that blew us away when it debuted back in 2014, the John Mercanti designed Wedge-Tailed Eagle was a wholly unexpected addition to the Perth Mints line-up of nature-themed bullion coins, but a welcome one. Now on its third design, the mother and chick image on this coin is supposedly just going to be used for one year, where the two previous designs lasted for two.

It’s a great looking piece of artwork and this new five-ounce high-relief variant is probably the best way to see it outside of the $70k AUD one-kilo gold version. Both the reverse and obverse faces of the coin are concave and the coin is a chunky beast. The downside is a diameter of just 50mm instead of the 65mm that coins of this weight often achieve, but we trade greater relief and definition for that, and the coin will be a beauty in hand, as previous issues have been. Supplied in a box with a certificate of authenticity, just 2,500 of these will be minted and they’re to sell for $499.00 AUD.

REVERSE: The coin’s superb high relief reverse depicts a mother wedge-tailed eagle looking down on a chick. A male bird is portrayed hovering above them with
its magnificent wings fully extended. The design also includes the inscription AUSTRALIAN WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE, the 2018 year-date, the coin’s weight and fineness, and The Perth Mint’s ‘P’ mintmark

OBVERSE: depicts the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the monetary denomination.