Australia loves its big bats, so a coin with a flying fox on it is to be expected. This interesting coin is part of The Air Series, which of course followed The Land and The Ocean series. I wonder if they ever did The Fire series to cover them all?
The coin is made of an Aluminum/Bronze combination and is about the size of a US quarter coming in at 9g with a diameter of 25mm. On the card that comes with the coin is the mintage "unlimited" but the posted mintage figure for the coin is 17,002. Pretty high number for a specialty bat coin.
Depicted on the reverse is the grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), which is a large Australian bat with a wing span of up to a meter or so. A favorite food of these bats is the fruit of the Lilly Pilly tree, and that is what is depicted on the reverse as leafy branches with flower/fruit clusters. The bat itself is "pad printed" onto the coin, which is a method of printing in 2D on a 3D object. The bat looks good at a distance, and is accurate and all, but up close it is very noisy and not a very crisp image. Additionally there is the denomination of 1 DOLLAR.
The coin is made of an Aluminum/Bronze combination and is about the size of a US quarter coming in at 9g with a diameter of 25mm. On the card that comes with the coin is the mintage "unlimited" but the posted mintage figure for the coin is 17,002. Pretty high number for a specialty bat coin.
Depicted on the reverse is the grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), which is a large Australian bat with a wing span of up to a meter or so. A favorite food of these bats is the fruit of the Lilly Pilly tree, and that is what is depicted on the reverse as leafy branches with flower/fruit clusters. The bat itself is "pad printed" onto the coin, which is a method of printing in 2D on a 3D object. The bat looks good at a distance, and is accurate and all, but up close it is very noisy and not a very crisp image. Additionally there is the denomination of 1 DOLLAR.
2011 Australia $1 "Air Series" bat coin with grey-headed flying fox
The obverse of the coin is the usual design for coins of the British Realm, a picture of Queen Elizabeth II along with text noting that and the country and date.
2011 Australia $1 grey-headed flying fox coin obverse
And that would be the end of the story, but there are two more things to note here. First, this is not a proof coin, but a matte uncirculated coin. So the finish on the flat fields is a satiny matte, while the raised portions are shiny smooth. Kinda the opposite effect of a cameo proof. This isn't so easy to see in the above images, so here is a different angle.
2011 Australia $1 Air Series coin grey-headed flying fox obverse
Which brings me to the final thing. Note the bits of dust and stuff (even a sliver of plastic wrapping) in the photo. These coins are issued in a blister pack on a cardboard card, and so the photos were taken through plastic and crud and really hard to make a very well-made coin look good.
The card it is mounted on contains a number of factoids, many of which are noted here. The side with the bat on it however is quite nice, with a highlighted bat on a field of tree/bats in silhouette. The moon is hiding behind the bat making for the silhouette effect to be very realistic, which begs the question where did the light come from that is shining in the bat's eyes and lighting it up? Trivia, as this is a very nice image.
The rest is readable in the photos below, but the circular hologram just did not like my photographic light. It is a little circle with a kangaroo and emu in the middle on the sides of an Australian emblem and the number "50" which I do not know the meaning of. Surrounding this are the words: official numismatic program Royal Australian Mint
The card it is mounted on contains a number of factoids, many of which are noted here. The side with the bat on it however is quite nice, with a highlighted bat on a field of tree/bats in silhouette. The moon is hiding behind the bat making for the silhouette effect to be very realistic, which begs the question where did the light come from that is shining in the bat's eyes and lighting it up? Trivia, as this is a very nice image.
The rest is readable in the photos below, but the circular hologram just did not like my photographic light. It is a little circle with a kangaroo and emu in the middle on the sides of an Australian emblem and the number "50" which I do not know the meaning of. Surrounding this are the words: official numismatic program Royal Australian Mint
2011 Australia $1 bat coin on card
2011 Australia $1 bat coin obverse on card
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