2019 Royal Australian Mint 1/10 oz Gold The Bold The Bad The Ugly Birdman of the Coorong

It isn’t just the first country in the world to have their fireworks displays to celebrate the New Year, it’s also a tradition at the Royal Australian Mint that they strike the first new coins of the year as well. At 9.15 am in the mints headquarters in Canberra, the first 100 customers were given the opportunity to strike a coin. The coins in questiuon were the mints first release of the year in their new ‘The Bold, the Bad and the Ugly’ range. The lucky (and patient) collector that got their first received a one-off coin set including the coins from the mintmark and privy mark sets and a proof version, accompanied by certificate number 1.

The coin delves into the colourful history of the less than upstanding elements of early Australian settler society – Bushrangers. So, what is a Bushranger? Basically, a thief, and often a violent one. Despite the grudging affection many Australians have for these people, much like Billy the Kid, Dick Turpin or Jesse James in the US and Britain, they were quite simply criminals. The first Bushrangers appeared around the turn of the 19th century and reached a peak during the Gold Rush years of the 1840’s and 1850’s. With names like ‘Brave’ Ben Hall, Captain Moonlite, Captain Thunderbolt, and ‘Mad Dog’ Morgan, you can see how they’ve captured popular imagination. Ned Kelly was one of the last of them.

A fine looking design, the reverse face of the coin features three characters in a foreground composition and each of them appears expertly crafted. The title is partly placed on an overhead sign and there’s a small series image that looks suspiciously like Ned Kelly’s iron mask. A ‘C’ mintmark (for Canberra) sits in the background. Interestingly, the base metal coin comes in four mintmark variants with the aforementioned ‘C’, as well as ‘B’ (Brisbane), ‘M’ (Melbourne) and ‘S’ (Sydney) versions.

The precious metal issues stick with ‘C’ only and comprise an 11.66 g 0.999 silver release, and a 3.11 g 0.9999 gold. The design on both is identical, as is the neat coin box, bar a different colour highlight and outer shipper artwork. The 5,000 silver and 1,000 gold mintage limits are pretty standard for the Royal Australian Mint and seem reasonable enough. Availaable to order now, we like this one and look forward to new designs carrying on with the theme.