What Is Your Favourite Australian Coin?

Hey Jeff, I'm willing to trade too, if you do want Norfolk Island ones and maybe one Victorian...

The standard current Australian 20c piece does it for me! It shows a platypus just below a water surface.

I have spoken to the designer, Stuart Devlin, for a considerable amount of time about coin design generally, and I have asked him exactly the same question that is the subject of this thread. He was given the commission to design all of the original definitive issue Australian coinage, all of which is still current, except the two dollar coin.

He did not give me a direct answer to this question, I think out of modesty, because the design is his.

So I will give you his reasoning about coin design, and why he found his design of the the 20 cent piece most satisfying to him.

Water is a hard subject to depict onto a metal surface, either incuse or relief. He considers that he was successful in doing this. Nevertheless, the subject he chose for the design is a platypus. The platypus is a uniquely an Australian animal and therefore fitting to be depicted on an Australian coin. Being aquatic, they need to be depicted in association with water, so the design called for a combination of both. He came up with the idea of showing the platypus under the water.

The next thing is that water is more easily shown within a rectangular frame, but coins are round, and in this case, presents much more of an artistic challenge. Again, he considers that he was successfully able to achieve this.

The next challenge was to consider how the coin is going to wear. What he came up with is a design that even when the coin is way below fine condition, all of the design intent remains.

This, in my humble opinion, is perfectly true, even if you don't know the first thing about coin design, or artistic merit generally. The type was first minted in 1966, and there are lots of surviving examples to be found in circulation today most of that date in G or VG condition, and they still look like perfectly usable 20c pieces.

Nearly a billion pieces of this design have been struck so far, and it is still in current issue.

I dont have many Austrailn coins but my favorite that I do have would have to be the 1986 year of Peace dollar.

1. 2002 Gold Nugget/Kangaroo- Iconic.(design is also used on 2001 proofs)
2. 2008 Silver Kookaburra- Completely original yet understated... Timeless design.
3. 2000 RAM Silver Kangaroo- Asthetically Stunning.
4. 2007 Gold Nugget/Kangaroo- Breathtaking contrastic design.(Last year Perth used 'Nugget' label)
5. 2009 Silver Kookaburra- Has a retro feel to it.

I'm guessing 1927 Florin. I love that design too.
Now I will go back and have a look

Jeff

How many Parliament House florins have you got Trout? You must be getting close to cornering the market.

Page 1 of this thread was a good read, some familiar names there from way back in 2006. But I wonder whatever happened to Snooba, madbudgie and humpybong

I still think the Australian Penny (of any year)is still the best looking coin around. Nice size, great colour and design.