Silver Ounce 2022 Sumatran Elephant, 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.

The 2022 Sumatran Elephant one-ounce silver bullion coin is the third release in a new Australia Zoo coin series and features a Sumatran elephant.

The Mint says about it:
The sheer size and might of Sumatran and African elephants are conveyed on this Silver Investment Coin, the third release in the Royal Australian Mint’s Australia Zoo series. Struck to a brilliant uncirculated finish, these coins pay tribute to these incredible creatures and their fragile existence in the wild."

The Sumatran elephant is the smallest subspecies of the Asian elephant. Compared to other subspecies, the Sumatran elephant is characterised in particular by its lighter pigmentation and a 20th pair of ribs. Its natural habitat is endemically restricted to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The already very reduced populations are further threatened by intensive tree clearing, hunting for ivory and poaching. With an estimated population of only 2,400 to 2,800 specimens, the elephant is classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.