Silver Ounce 2020 Deadly and Dangerous - Tarantula, Coin from Tuvalu - detailed information

The Tuvaluan Dollar is the currency of Tuvalu - a small nation in the Pacific Ocean. Tuvalu has never had banknotes of its own, and has been issuing coins since 1976; these circulate together with coins of the Australian Dollar, which is also legal tender in the country, and to which the Tuvaluan Dollar is pegged.

The Australian Perth Mint issues a large variety of non-circulating legal tender coins under the authority of Tuvalu. Some of these are in the silver ounce format (abbreviated as 1 oz). Strictly speaking, they are not bullion as they are priced at a premium and are targeted at collectors who appreciate them for their artistic merit and collectable value and not just for their precious metal content.

This coin is part of the Deadly and Dangerous series featuring native Australian animals, and shows a Lionfish.

The Mint says about it:
"The Deadly and Dangerous series features some of Australia's most terrifying creatures. The latest release in this exciting series captures the spine-tingling beauty of the tarantula. The infamous crawler is known as the barking or whistling spider because of the noises it makes when threatened. More widely, the tarantula is also known as the ‘bird-eater’ for its sheer size!

The coin’s reverse highlights this impressive spider, which grows to six centimetres in length with a leg span of 16 centimetres and fans one centimetre long, in striking brown colouring. The insect is depicted against a partially coloured background of leaves and twigs, representing its habitat which ranges from rainforest to desert across Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The coin is presented in a high-gloss timber display case within an illustrated shipper emblazoned with the warning ‘DANGER’. Each coin is accompanied by a numbered Certificate of Authenticity."