Silver Ounce 2018 Armistice Centenary, Coin from Australia - detailed information

The Australian one ounce silver piece (abbreviated as 1 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.

This coin was issued to mark the Armistice Centenary - the 100th anniversary of the armistice which preceded the end of World War I.

The Mint says about it:
At 11am on 11 November 1918 the guns on the Western Front fell silent as an Armistice came into effect, bringing an end to the First World War.

Between August and October 1918, Australian troops took part in a major Allied offensive on the Western Front. By the first week of November, the seriously depleted German forces had agreed to an Armistice. On 11 November 1918, German delegates signed the Armistice with the Allied nations at a railway siding in a forest in France, near the town of Compiègne. The First World War was officially over.

As the news reached Australia, cities and towns erupted into celebration. For Australian troops in France, surrounded by the devastation of war, it was a bittersweet moment. Many described a feeling of numbness, with the news taking several days to sink in. On the first anniversary of the Armistice, King George V requested that all people of the British Empire suspend their normal activities and observe a period of silence in memory of the fallen. Since then, Remembrance Day is still observed around the world with a minute silence in memory of all casualties of war.