The Great White Shark is one of the most feared yet cherished of all of the Australian marine life and with a weight of
up to 3000 kg
(Australian Museum, 2010)
can be extremely powerful and dangerous. They have been found from Southern Queensland to North Western Australia. It
has long been the destination to find this shark but its numbers are on the decline and it is now a protected species around
the world. The shark is arguably labelled as a man-eater but this tag could be unwarranted as more research suggests that
this may not be the case.
This iconic shark takes its place in the Royal Australian Mint Ocean Series and it is featured and celebrated on this
pad printed commemorative one dollar coin in full colour and detail. The finish is both fun and beautiful and will make the
perfect start to a youngsters collection as well as a great addition to an existing one. Six similar coins celebrating different
ocean fish preceded this one and it was followed by a further one. This
uncirculated one dollar White Shark coin is intended for collectors with the hope of catching the interest and
attention of a younger audience. This coin is the fifth in a series dedicated to Australian ocean life that was released
by the Royal Australian Mint over two years, between 2006 and 2007. The other marine life that accompanied this coin in the
series includes the clown fish, the bottle nosed dolphin, the Biscuit star fish, the Bannerfish and the seahorse. Each of
the coins were issued individually and were encapsulated and presented on a card with colourful photographs of the featured
marine life as well as fun facts and relevant information.
This particular coin pays tribute to the White Shark and the reverse
designed by Tony Dean, features the huge and impressive fish swimming head on as if about to swim out of the coin. The shark
itself is detailed but the background sea is a block of blue colour with straight lines retreating back towards a central
spot on the horizon helping to create the effect of the shark swimming forwards. This colour printed image is restricted
to a square. The colour cuts off with a straight line and the perspective lines continue as strikes into the planchet. On
top of this is the denomination 1 DOLLAR. The obverse features the Ian
Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II as well as the traditional
legend
found on all Australian 1 dollar coins, which reads "ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2007".
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