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 one ounce silver coin with a face value of $1 is part of a Perth Mint series featuring the Quokka.
A wallaby-like marsupial, found mainly in the south west region of Western Australia, the quokka has thick, grey-brown fur, a broad face, shiny black eyes and round furry ears. Known as the "happiest animals on Earth", due to their smiling visage, quokkas were once plentiful throughout Australia’s south west but are now classified as vulnerable, having suffered from predation by introduced species and loss of habitat. |