Offering collectors an affordable option to get one of the most sought after coin designs in the world, the Perth Mint of Australia has issued the 2013 Australian Koala 1/10 Ounce Silver Coin.
These coins are minted from one-tenth ounce of 99.9% pure silver and feature the Perth Mint’s 2013 Australian Koala coin design on their reverse. Pricing is AUS $13.59, or US $14.20.
Koala silver coins from the Perth Mint of Australian debuted back in 2007. The coins are in varying sizes and have quickly become popular among investors and collectors. Investors seek out the coins in large part because of their guarantee for quality and purity. Collectors like the series because of the annually changing reverse.
This year’s koala design made its debut last November when the Perth released the 2013 Koala bullion silver coins in 1 kilo, 10 oz, 1 oz and 1/2 oz sizes. The reverse design shows an adult koala resting in the fork of eucalyptus tree. It was originally completed by Tom Vaughan.
Surrounding the reverse are inscriptions of "AUSTRALIAN KOALA," "2013 1/10 OZ 999 SILVER" and the Mint’s ‘P’ mint mark.
Struck as legal tender of Australia, the obverse depicts the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. Inscriptions include "ELIZABETH II," "AUSTRALIA" and the legal tender face value of "10 CENTS."
Each silver coin comes housed in an illustrated presentation card with a photographic image of two koalas. According to the Perth Mint, the 1/10 ounce coins will be struck to meet demand with a final mintage declared after the coins are removed from availability.
The Australian Koala 1/10 Ounce Silver Coin is available for ordering directly from the Perth Mint website (www.perthmint.com.au).
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See additional Perth Mint products from this site’s guide of Australian coins.
About the Perth Mint
The Royal Mint of England originally opened the Perth Mint of Australia (http://www.perthmint.com.au/) in 1899 as a branch of the London facility. It continued in operation as a branch of the Royal Mint until ownership transferred to the State Government of Western Australia in 1970.
Today, the Perth Mint is the official issuer of the Australian Federal Government’s Gold and Silver Bullion Coin Program. In addition, it produces some of the world’s most unusual collectible coins.
Yikes! A 10 cent coin with $3.20 worth of silver in it for US $14.20. Multiply that one out.
The 10¢ denomination is as artificial as the $1 denomination on an “American eagle” 1-oz bullion coin. Plus production costs aren’t proportionally lower for a small coin versus a large one.
But yeah, definitely, something like $6 or $7 would be more like it.
I think you guys are missing the artistic part of these coins, but that could just be me. I agree though they are over priced, but that fact may stop you from buying one, it isn’t stopping a lot of other people from buying them. I don’t buy coins for their melt value, never have looked at them that way.
I don’t buy based on melt value either, but the dime has to be pretty small. If I were buying a Koala I’d want one where I can actually see the design without needing a magnifying glass. I didn’t get the start of the series in 2007 so not getting any of the other years either.
I think the dime and half issues were started in 2008. The dime version does seem to be more of a novelty release than a serious collector version. I have some of the halves and the art work is ok IMO, but not fantastic. I definitely think the secondary market price for the 1oz piece is ludicrous.
I was wrong… the half issue started in 2008 the dime issue started in 2011.
@thePhelps….Secondary market price for 1 oz silver koalas is ludicrous unless you are the seller. :-). I find it interesting and challenging to pick coins that may have a better resale value in a few years, apart from increasing bullion values (or decreasing $US). I guessed wrong on Austrian Phil 2008 silver, first year. I guessed right on koala and Mexico silver libertad. Some, the guessing is made easier by comparing mintage figures. My goal is to buy extra coins, wait a while, sell the extra coins at a nice profit and end up with “free” money on the ones… Read more »
The Perth Mint came out with a 1 oz silver koala high relief for the first time last year. I wonder if they are going do it for 2013? It’s a real sharp looking coin. Glad I bought a couple. They only made 10,000.
Kevin – good plan. I wonder how your hits compare to your misses – evening out? I don’t follow the numbers that closely but it’d sure be nice to get the coins for “free”.
Jim, The coins I took a modest loss on were generally ones where I didn’t wait long enough to sell, or ones that developed toning or spots. Due to the big production numbers of American silver eagles, I find that if I try to sell NGC MS69s soon after release, I’m doing well to break even. I’ve done better at the non-US silver coins, and I don’t usually get them graded. Their lower mintage figures help sellers get good prices (with patience). The premiums that the US Mint charges have caused me to slow my purchases of proof and burnished… Read more »
When is the Perth Mint going to release the 2013 specimen silver koala’s? These are same carded ones as above they are just the 1 oz coins though.
I’m probably going to be the odd one out when I say this but… The Perth Mint markets this coin as an “ideal gift” & as others have mentioned, it’s not really a coin for the serious collector or bullion stacker but nevertheless I really like this product and I think it has its place. I’ll give an example of why I like this coin: I have a couple of nieces, in an attempt to teach them the principles behind buying coins & bullion I decided to buy them a couple of coins to get them started. I wanted to… Read more »
So how much are they learning if Uncle is doing all the buying for them? Get them to commit a few of their own $ even if you provide the balance towards buying coins and under your guidance they might keep it up.
Funny you should say that…. I got an email from the eldest one (13) a couple of days ago asking me if I would buy a couple of 1/2oz Perth Mint Lunar Dragons (she’s a Dragon in Chinese Astrology) for her, she said she has saved up a bit of her birthday & pocket money and didn’t know where else she could buy them! (They live in a rural area & a few hours drive away from me) I have a couple of them floating around so I’ve told her that if she deposits the money into my account that… Read more »
Good for you – a budding numismatist! Keep up the good work.