Platinum Ounce 2021 Year of the Ox, Coin from Australia - detailed information

The Australian one ounce platinum piece (abbreviated as 1 oz and designated with Pt for "Platinum") 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.

This one-ounce platinum coin with a face value of $100 was issued as part of the Perth Mint's Lunar Series III to mark the Chinese Year of the Ox (12 February 2021 - 31 January 2022).

The Mint says about it:
"This scrupulously crafted proof coin offers just 188 astute collectors the chance to celebrate the Year of the Ox with pure platinum. A lustrous white precious metal, platinum is much rarer than gold; it’s estimated that all the platinum ever mined would comfortably fit inside an average home.

First issued in 1995 and now in its third round, the long-running Australian Lunar Coin Series celebrates the animals of the Chinese zodiac with a sequence of annual designs portraying the mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. This 2021 coin celebrates the Year of the Ox, whose rule over every second year in the 12-year lunar cycle is said to influence people born during 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009 and 2021."