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2011 Australian Koala 5 Oz Silver Proof Coin Released
June 6, 2011 by Darrin Lee Unser · 14 Comments
The Perth Mint of Australia treads into new territory with the newly released 2011 Australian Koala 5 Ounce Silver Proof Coin.
2011 Australian Koala 5 Ounce Silver Proof Coin
Never before has a five ounce issue been produced in the extremely popular series of koala silver coins, making this release even more unique.
The Perth Mint is no stranger to the koala series itself. It has been striking them since 2007. However, traditionally, the coins of the program are produced to bullion quality as an investment option in four different sizes — 1 kilo, 10 oz, 1 oz, and 1/2 oz. (See 2011 issues.)
Despite their intended market, the silver coins are also extremely popular with collectors owing to both their precious metal content as well as the subject matter of koalas. These creatures are known around the world even though they are only indigenous to the country of Australia. They live in the southern and eastern coastal regions of the country and survive almost solely on the leaves of the Eucalyptus trees which are toxic to most other living things.
The release of the 2011 Australian Koala 5 Ounce Silver Proof Coin is not the Perth’s first foray into a koala coin minted for collectors. Since 2008, The Perth Mint has also produced a one ounce Gilded Koala. It features the same basic specifications and designs as the standard koala coins, but includes a 24-karat gilding of the koala(s) which makes their appearance even more prominent. (See the 2011 release.)
The new Australian Koala 5 Ounce Silver Proof Coin will undoubtedly expand on the intense collector interest in the series not only because of their unique size, but also because of their limited mintage. According to The Perth Mint, a maximum mintage of only 5,000 of the proof coins will be available worldwide. Only 300 are available in Australia.
Each will ship housed in a presentation case with an illustrated shipper and a numbered certificate of authenticity. The 5 ounce proof coins are considered legal tender under the Australian Currency Act of 1965 and feature a face value of AUS $8.
Shown on the obverse of the coin is Ian Rank-Broadley’s effigy of Queen Elizabeth II of England. She is surrounded by the inscriptions of "ELIZABETH II," "AUSTRALIA" and "8 DOLLARS."
The reverse contains the official 2011 koala design used by The Perth Mint, created by Elise Martinson. It shows an adult koala in the fork of a tree with its young clinging to one of the branches. Surrounding the scene are the inscriptions of "AUSTRALIAN KOALA," "2011 5 OZ 999 SILVER" and the Perth Mint’s historic "P" mintmark.
Those interested in obtaining the 2011 Australian Koala 5 Ounce Silver Proof Coin may do so directly from The Perth Mint website via:
About the Perth Mint
The Perth Mint is wholly-owned by the State Government of Western Australia and is the official issuer of the Australian Federal Government’s Gold and Silver Bullion Coin Program. The Royal Mint of England opened this branch of its operations in 1899 in response to the discovery of rich gold deposits in Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. It was Australia’s third branch of Britain’s Royal Mint with the others being the Sydney Mint and the Melbourne Mint (both of which are now closed).
The Perth Mint remained under Britain’s jurisdiction until 1970 when it was transferred to the State Government of Western Australia. Since then it has become a premier institution for gold refinery and gold coin and gold coin blank production along with world renowned silver operations.
i can’t seem to find it on the website.
anyone else?
The direct links to purchase the coin on The Perth Mint website is: http://www.perthmint.com.au/catalogue/australian-koala-silver-coin-silver-proof-coin.aspx
found it
I was very interested in this. The Perth Mint website, however, says US residents can buy through The New York Mint. This coin is listed by Perth at $461 US. The New York Mint is selling it, or at least listing it as they aren’t selling it to me, at $799. For 5 oz. I know it is very low mintage and it is graded, but that price is practically illegal. It makes the ATB pucks look like the gratest bargain on earth. I hope all who will encourage that kind of gouging by purchasing it enjoy it, I can’t. I think we should all say no and force the price down. Unless I have it all wrong in which case I would be more than willing to stand corrected.
2010-P ATB mintage’s are 27,000. If only 5,000 Koala’s are being produced I would think the premium @ $799 is warranted. Anything greater would be pushing. The scandalous price of the first 5 oz ATB caused the US Mint to postpone their release but the 5 coin sets were being marked up to 3-5K$ from the around $1,000 cost to the 12 official US mint distributors who could buy the coins. That was gouging and a director @ the mint lost his job over it and rightly so.
These Koala’s seem priced appropriately to me but it will take 3-5 years to get the real answer.
Just placed an order through the Perth Mint for 2 coins. Total $922 (plus a bank fee I’m sure). And the shipping is free world wide. These are raw. $461 plus say $70 to grade one GEM PF brings the price to $530. I called one of the authorized dealers for these and their prices were $1199 PF 70, $799 PF 69 and $699 GEM PF. If you go the NGC census for these it would appear that all but 475 of the 5000 have been graded either PF 69 or PF 70 by NGC.
Anybody know when these went on sale?
As a comparison I was poking around on PA and the 2011 5 oz Proof Silver Panda, mintage 20,000, is going for $789.
Compared to the US and Australian 5 Oz silver, why the face value are quite different? One is 8 dollars, but the other is just quarter?
i agree with nancyb on this. the perth website says you CAN purchase at new york mint but you do not have to purchase at new york mint. i initially called NYMint and received the standard sales piitch–they are good at what they do. but like nancyb, it seemed outrageous to pay 799 bucks for the coin given that the ATBs are only $280.
i am still trying to figure out how NYMint can justify that price.
The ATBs going for $280 for directly from the US Mint are UNC versions (not proof). There are no proof versions of ATB 5 oz coins (so far). When I called NY Mint the $799 was for a PF 69 slabbed coin. The proof Koalas I purchased directly from the Perth Mint were unslabbed (raw) for $461 each. Also, it would appear that NY Mint may be the sole distributor in the U S for these coins which kind of gives them a great deal of control over initial pricing.
So: 2010 ATB 5 oz UNC $280 mintage 27,000
2011 Koala 5 oz Proof $461 mintage 5,000
2011 Panda 5 oz Proof $789 mintage 20,000
Just checked the Perth Mint website. The 2011 Proof 5 oz Koala is “Unavailable”.
I placed an order through the Perth Mint yesterday, free shipping on orders over $300, 3% for the credit card to do me the favor of taking the order and exchanging the virtual currency. It went through, but they say in several places orders will be cancelled without notification so who knows if it will really ship. I received no confirmation email although there was an order number. I usually keep checking the credit card. The Royal Mint doesn’t let you know about sell outs either. I figured I got the first 5 ATB bullion, graded, for $959 so I can afford to splurge on the Koala. It’s almost noon and the latest puck is going on sale at the Mint so that’s the next stop. This is becoming an addition. I may need an intervention.
Just checked my CC and it’s been charged. I placed my order on 7 Jun.
My 2 coins came back from NGC graded PF69 UC and PF70 UC. According to their census there are 1777 PF70’s.