The Australian tenth-ounce gold piece (abbreviated as 1/10 oz and designated with Au for "gold") is a bullion coin format. Uniquely, in Australia there are two mints authorised to strike legal tender: the Royal Australian Mint (which also makes the country's circulating coinage) and the Perth Mint which only makes collector and bullion coins, as well as other bullion products.
Both mints endeavour to create coins with attractive designs, and to introduce new designs and themes often, in order to raise the numismatic value of the coins over the value of previous metal used.
The Mint says about this coin: "Scientists, aboard the CSIRO research vessel (RV) Investigator, have explored the deep-sea and ocean abyss, discovering amazing and unique creatures of the deep.
The iconic tripodfish (Bathypterois grallator), are from the Ipnopidae family, often called spiderfish; they prop themselves high off the seafloor on their stilt-like fins. Like most members of the spiderfish family, tripodfish have reduced eyes. To feed, they face into the current, extending their elongated pectoral fubs forward, "feeling" for prey as it drifts by. They filter suspended food particles with their comb-like gill rakers. It can be lonely on the ocean floor so tripodfish are hermaphrodites - meaning they have both male and female sexual organs, so don't need to find a mate.
The Royal Australian Mint celebrates these journeys of scientific endeavour, and the wondrous creatures they discovered with this coin." |