The Silver Kookaburra is a silver bullion coin originating from Australia, and produced at the Perth Mint starting in 1990. The coins were .999 fine silver until the 2018 edition, which increased in purity to .9999 silver. While the obverse of the coin always depicts the reigning monarch--Queen Elizabeth II during her reign and now features King Charles III, the reverse side changes every year, always featuring a kookaburra, a bird native to Australia. Due to the yearly design change and limited production of the one-ounce coins, they have higher collectible value than some other bullion coins. The Perth Mint, generally, ships the coins in individual plastic capsules. One-ounce coins ship in shrink wrap rolls of 20, with 5 rolls in each box of 100. They are minted in four sizes; 1,000 g, 10, 2 and 1 troy ounces.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the kookaburra coin, the 2015 coin features the same image of the kookaburra as the original 1990 coin. To differentiate the 1990 and 2015 coins, the date on the reverse reads "1990-2015" and 2015 has been added to the obverse. The 2015 coin had a release date of September 1, 2014.

Specifications

Specifications Weight(troy oz) Weight(grams) Face Value Diameter(mm) Thickness(mm) 1,002.5 AU$30 101 14.6 10 312.35 AU$10 75.5 8.7 2 62.77 AU$2 50.3 4.5 1 31.135 AU$1 40.6 4

One Ounce History

The maximum mintage of the one troy ounce coin is capped, while the others have unlimited mintage, based on demand. Perth Mint originally intended to expand the 2013 mintage to one million coins, however, they later reduced this number to 500,000 and declared that future years would continue to be limited to this amount. In addition to the annual design change, there is also a design change between the bullion and proof versions of the coin each year. No proof coins were minted between 2006 and 2011; however, there was a 1-ounce silver proof Kookaburra colored coin struck in 2012 for the Discover Australia coin series. Since 2012, the proof coin has been struck in high relief only.

Special editions such as privy marked, colored and gilded are often available.

+ Mintages forstandard bullion and proof coins Year Bullion mintage Proof mintage 1990 300,000 21,671 1991 6,673 1992 219,694 6,766 1993 190,581 5,121 1994 174,561 2,500 1995 154,247 3,000 1996 170,105 3,500 1997 159,497 2,466 1998 103,119 2,114 1999 109,364 1,646 2000 104,169 2,583 2001 169,265 3,241 2002 91,604 1,733 2003 109,439 1,571 2004 84,455 1,446 2005 95,145 2,346 2006 87,044 - 2007 213,436 - 2008 300,000 - 2009 - 2010 - 2011 500,000 - 2012 10,000 2013 5,378 2014 2,550 2015 8,000 2016 2,401 2017 406,265 2,845 2018 243,740 1,935 2019 219,660 2020 375,914 2021 266,676 + Mintages for privy marked and special releases Year Privy Mark Particularity Mintage 1992 Eagle Proof coins only 750 1993 Sydney Opera House 15,000 1994 Team Australia — Commonwealth Games 1995Giant panda Gilded privy 10,000 1996 15,000 Tricentennial naming of the Swan River 5,000 Eiffel Tower (France) Brandenburg Gate (Germany) Tower Bridge (Great Britain) Colossus of Rhodes (Greece) The Hague (Netherlands) Goya's La Maja desnuda Gilded privy 2,500 Basler stab Date on edge of coin Date and serial number 1,500 1997 Dragon Gilded privy 20,000 Phoenix Panda 15,000 Little Mermaid (Denmark) 5,000 Elk (Finland) Roman Colosseum (Italy) Windmill (Netherlands) Monument of the Discoveries (Portugal) Utrecht Coat of Arms 2,500 Zurich Coat of Arms Japanese Golden Yen Gilded privy Thomas Edison 1998 St. Stephen's Cathedral (Austria) 5,000 Celtic harp (Ireland) Robert Schuman Building (Luxembourg) Alhambra palace (Spain) Vasa warship (Sweden) 1999 1999 Australian Gold Sovereign coin Gilded privy Austrian 20 Schillings Belgian 50 Francs Finnish 1 Markka French 5 Francs German 1 Mark Irish 1 Punt Italian 1,000 Lire Luxembourg 50 Francs Dutch 1 Gulden Portuguese 50 Escudos Spanish 100 Pesetas Australian 1919 square penny 3,500 16th century Japanese Koban coin Gilded privy 2,500 2001 Commonwealth Star 10,000 Santa Claus Colored privy 1,000 2002 US Flag 18,496 2004 Gilded kookaburras 10,000 2005 Western zodiac (12 coins total) 5,000(for each month) 2007 Gilded kookaburra 10,000 2012 Lunar dragon 64,989 2013 Lunar snake 50,000 Fabulous 15 7,600 2014 Lunar horse 50,000 Fabulous 15 7,000 2015 Lunar goat 50,000 Fabulous 15 7,350 2016 Lunar monkey 50,000 Fabulous 15 5,252 2017 Lunar rooster 50,000 Panda 8,000 Shark 31,482 2018 Lunar dog 50,000 Panda 8,000 Fabulous 15 4,805

See also Australian Silver Kangaroo (bullion) Australian Silver Koala Bullion Bullion coin Inflation hedge Silver as an investment

References General 2020 Standard Catalog of World Coins - 1901–2000, 47th Edition, publication date 2019, Krause Publications, 2020 Standard Catalog of World Coins - 2001–Date, 14th Edition, publication date 2019, Krause Publications,

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