The Perth Mint is one of the oldest still operated mints in the world, its history is so fascinating as its coins are beautiful. The Perth Mint is of big significance and very important for Australia. Dating back to 1899 when the first coin was struck until now the Perth mint hasn’t lost a bit of its influence. It’s biggest competitors, when it comes to bullion coins, are the US Mint, the Austrian Mint, and the Royal Canadian Mint.
The history of the Perth mint began in the late 1800s, during this time the gold rush was happening in the USA. But America wasn’t the only place where precious metals were discovered, the Australian gold rush began around the same time as the California gold rush (1850s). Just like in the Unites States, goldminers flooded the country coming from around the world to strike it rich. Most of them came from Great Britain, but some of them also arrived from China, Europe, and even the United States. Of course, also Australians searched for the precious metal that were said to just lie on the ground ready to be picked up. Sadly, this did not portray reality and many people laid down their lives looking for gold. However, there were people that became successful through mining but just very few did strike it rich. Most just found very little gold. But what to do with the precious gold that was mined with hard efforts? Miners that had found gold needed a place to deposit it and that’s where the Perth Mine came in.
Despite the gold located near the town of Perth there wasn’t a lot of money in circulation, the town was poor. But miners needed a mint to exchange their gold for money, luckily Premier John Forrest thought ahead. He convinced the British to build a Royal Mint in Perth and the stone foundation was finished in 1869, the mint itself opened 3 years later. The money from the gold strengthened the economy and Australia’s population increased, 23.000 new people came to Australia in only one year.
The first coin series struck at the Perth mint were Sovereigns; these gold coins were used throughout the British Empire and Australia. They were first struck in the late 1400s ordered by Henry VII. The design and weight of the British Sovereign kept changing until 1931 when they were last struck. Designed by Benedetto Pistrucci these special coins were produced not only in Australia but also in Africa, Canada and even in India. After almost 450 years of glory the British sovereigns vanished from circulation instead being replaced by ordinary paper notes. This change didn’t stop the Perth Mint though, instead of striking Sovereigns it began producing ordinary pennies and later pure gold bars. After World War II the Perth Mint and branches of the Royal Mint supplied Australia with gold bars and coins. In the beginning, the Perth Mint only struck low value coins, usually made of copper. But the mint proved themselves when they impressed the Royal Mint with their remarkable gold products.
After this great success, more change was on the horizon for the Perth mint. In 1970 on the first day of July the Perth mint changed ownership. No longer under British rule, the Perth Mint was now Australian owned.
After this event a lot changed at the Perth Mint, now it didn’t just strike pennies but real collectors’ pieces. The Perth mint is known for their gold and silver Kangaroo coins and for their silver Swan Series as well as for other beautiful collections. The silver Kangaroo coins were first struck in 1993 and were designed by Raphael Maklouf. The silver Swan Series on the other hand became so popular that in the end the swan became the Perth Mint’s official logo. The Perth Mint strikes a lot of coins that are engraved with animals up to this day. Usually made of silver, these coins show koalas, kookaburras, platypuses, eagles and of course swans and kangaroos (the kangaroo coin is also available in gold). But animals aren’t the only symbol on Australian coins, a lot of pieces show parts of Australian history and portray not only their own culture but also other cultures (Lunar New Year Coin Series for example). The coin series listed above however do not include all of Australia’s coins, many other pieces are struck at the Perth Mint everyday.
fThe Perth Mint of Australia is a piece of Australian history and a key element of the Australian gold rush. This mint is built on the gold that old day miners provided and has survived both world wars, striking beautiful coins up to this day.