Gold Ounce 2022 Pirate Queens - Mary Read, Coin from Solomon Islands - detailed information

Apart from its regular circulating coinage, Solomon Islands has authorised a number of mints to issue collector coins in precious metals, which are legal tender in the country but are not intended for general circulation. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes - such as one ounce of gold (abbreviated as 1 oz Au, where "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold, Aurum). These are usually dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to the country itself.

This design is the third and final issue in the Pirate Queens series of premium bullion coins by the Royal Australian Mint, and features Mary Read.

Mary Read was born in London in 1685 or 1690 as an illegitimate child. Her widowed mother dressed Mary as a boy to replace her deceased firstborn and to hide the affair from which Mary was born from her in-laws. Since the benefits of living as a man did not escape Mary, she continued to dress up and call herself "Mark". In this way, she first served in the military and then signed on with a merchant ship that was captured by pirates en route to the Caribbean, whom she voluntarily followed. In 1720 she met Anne Bonny and John Rackham. Numerous myths have grown up around the adventurous love story between the two women that resulted from this encounter. In 1720, the pirate crew was ambushed and overpowered. Rackham was executed, whereas Anne Bonny and Mary Read were initially imprisoned due to alleged pregnancies. Mary Read died there of a fever.