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.
Some of these coins can be classified as "Smartminting" (or "smart minting") due to the technologies used in their production; these include irregular shapes, coloured surfaces, precious stone inserts etc. The coins are targeted at collectors who appreciated them as art rather than at bullion investors.
This coloured silver coin with a "domed" shape is the second release in the Beauty, Rich & Rare series, and celebrates the Twelve Apostles rock formation in Victoria.
These stunning columns were formed over thousands of years by erosion from waves crashing onto the shoreline, steadily eroding the softer limestone. At no time since European settlement have there been more than eight Apostles in the feature, now just seven following the collapse of one stack in 2005.
How exactly they came to be the Twelve Apostles is still somewhat a mystery. English explorer George Bass named them the Sow and Piglets. Others called them The Pinnacles. The enduring name, the Twelve Apostles, emerged in the 1880s.
The Twelve Apostles steadily became a major tourist drawcard, especially after construction of the Great Ocean Road by returned servicemen from 1919 to 1932. It is now Victoria’s most visited attraction. |