The Australian five ounces silver piece (abbreviated as 5 oz and designated with Ag for "silver") is a bullion and commemorative 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 Australian Swan is a limited mintage bullion coin series featuring elegant designs of Cygnus atratus, graceful inhabitants of the southeast and southwest regions of Australia where they live and breed in estuaries, inlets and other wetland environments. The 2022 coin features the sixth design from this popular series.
Well-known to First Nations people for thousands of years, the Australian swan’s distinctive black plumage astonished early European explorers. So prevalent was Cygnus atratus in the estuaries, lakes and wetlands of Western Australia that it gave its name to Perth’s premier river and became an important State symbol. |