Settings Subscribe  

NumisTip

Australia Australian Coin Centenary

2010 Proof One Dollar

Values

Sales History

Current listings

?

In 1910 the first coinage was issued featuring the name of the Commonwealth of Australia. To commemorate a century since this important event in Australian numismatic history the Royal Australian Mint has released this special subscription piece. This coin was designed by W. Pietranik. The reverse showcases the designs from Australia's first four silver coins against the large date "1910". The obverse features both the Ian-Rank-Broadley portrait of HRH Queen Elizabeth II and the 1910 effigy of HRH King Edward VII by George W. de Saules. These two designs are both placed against the dates "2010 1910" and the caption "100 YEARS OF AUSTRALIAN COINAGE."

Following Australian Federation in 1901 discussions to establish a national currency began immediately. In 1910 the first Australian coins were struck and despite calls for a decimalised currency the coins followed the British system with pounds, shillings and pence. The currency was awkward, with each pound being subdivided into 20 shillings each of 12 pence. In the 1950s the economic importance of switching to a decimal currency became heavily argued. The key argument was that the pound made financial transactions unnecessarily difficult, it was calculated that this difficulty caused the loss of more than £11 million to the Australian economy every year. After much political debate the 14th of February 1966 was chosen as Changeover Day - when the new Australian decimal dollar took over.