This five Dollar Hologram Silver
proof
coin was issued as a
commemorative
piece in order to celebrate the centenary of the Federation of Australia. It was released in 2001 and is known as the
Finale coin after a year of
commemorative
coins issued by the Royal Australian Mint each paying tribute to the people and events that in some way led up to the
Federation of the country in 1901. The coin was Australia's first hologram coin and thought to be the world first double
image hologram coin.
(Royal Australian Mint, 2001)
The Finale Series consisted of three coins, with the following two released in 2002 and 2003 to complete years celebrating
the Year of the Outback and Australia's Volunteers - Making a difference. All three of the coins featured a hologram image,
which got progressively more impressive as the technology improved over the three years.
The reverse of the coin was designed by Wojciech Pietranik and features
the hologram image in a central oval. It is a double image with one being the Rotunda and the other a map of Australia. The
map is very bright and colourful with each state and territory outlined in a different colour. Surrounding this oval is the
legend
Centenary of Federation and coming out from these words is an explosion of fireworks. Beneath the hologram is four lines
of writing, which reads: "AUSTRALIA 1901-2001" - "IT'S WHAT WE MAKE IT" - "IT'S WHAT WE MAKE IT" - "IT'S WHAT WE MAKE IT"
with each line of writing getting progressively smaller. The obverse
bears the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth with the surrounding
legend
"ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2001 5 DOLLARS". The coin was issued in a plush grey presentation case and an outer box that
also included a booklet of information regarding the Federation and a Certificate of Authenticity. The outer box has the
writing Centenary of Federation Finale Coin 2001 and a metallic image of the map of Australia with the states and territories
in different colours. This coin had a limited
mintage
of just 10,000 and was highly sought after as soon as it was released.
Before the continent that we know today as the Commonwealth of Australia formed to become one nation, it was six individual
British colonies. Each of them were self-governing and although they all derived from British settlements, they considered
themselves to be individual colonies. These were the states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria
and Western Australia. During the mid-late 19th century the idea of a Federation to unify the colonies was considered but
it was until 1900 that the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act was passed and given Royal Assent by Queen Victoria.
(Wikipedia, 2013)
On the 1st January 1901 Sir Edmond Barton was signed in as the interim Prime Minister of Australia and collectively the
colonies became the states of the Commonwealth of Australia.
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