Coins
2003
Australian Bushrangers Coin Collection
source: downies.com/australia/mediareleases
 The
collection of four .999 fine silver full-colour
$2 coins honours Australia’s most famous
Bushrangers – Ned Kelly, Ben Hall, Mad Dan
Morgan and Captain Thunderbolt. Perhaps the highlight,
the Ned Kelly $2 Proof bears one of the most recognisable
images in Australian history.
Struck by the
Perth Mint and by popular consensus one of the Mint's
finest examples of colour minting, this new limited
edition release offers all collectors a fantastic opportunity.
The Australian Bushrangers Proof Coin Collection, comprising
four large 50.3mm two ounce pure silver coins, honours
the most colourful characters of Australia's wild colonial
days. Combining the lure of Australia's vivid Bushranger
history with the attraction of the best features of
modern numismatics, there seems little doubt that the
tiny worldwide mintage of 2,500 sets will sell out
rapidly. An extremely “marketable” coin
collection, the strong theme is just one of a wide
array of features.
• Exclusive
- limited to a tiny worldwide mintage of just 2,500
collections!
• High-quality - struck by Australia's precious
metal specialists, the Perth Mint
• Precious - each $2 coin is struck from Two
Ounces of .999 fine silver
• Eye-catching - each coin features a full-colour
design of one of Australia's most well-known bushrangers
- Ned Kelly, Ben Hall, Captain Thunderbolt or Mad
Dan Morgan
• Innovative - one of the Mint's finest colour
applications
• Superbly presented - each proof collection
is housed in a charmingly rustic series case, complete
with an historical booklet incorporating a numbered
Certificate of Authenticity
• Legal tender - carrying the portrait of Elizabeth
II, these coins are official legal tender issues
of the Commonwealth nation of the Cook Islands
• Imposing - the perfect venues for the colourful
designs, each coin measures an imposing 50.3mm in
diameter
Australia’s
most wanted coin collection
Playing a unique role in the nation’s earliest
colonial history, Bushrangers have always had a special
place in the hearts and minds of Australians. Romanticised
and celebrated in film, literature and art for so many
decades, Australia’s vivid bushranger history
has now been brought to life on a series of legal tender
coins! Struck by the precious metal specialists at
the Perth Mint, this ‘world first’ for
numismatics has the whole industry talking. Comprising
four massive Two Ounce .999 fine silver Proofs, the
2003 Australian Bushranger Proof Coin Collection pays
tribute to some of the most famous outlaws of the colonial
period. Sure to intensify demand for this historic,
limited edition set (2,500 mintage worldwide), the
2003 Australian Bushrangers Proof Coin Collection has
been acclaimed as among the finest examples of colour
minting yet seen.
Colourful
characters
Honouring Ned Kelly, Ben Hall, Mad Dan Morgan and Captain
Thunderbolt, the 2003 Australian Bushrangers Proof
Coin Collection depicts some of the most well known
characters of the colonial period. Inextricably linked
with Australia’s ‘Gold Rush’ heritage,
the short but spectacular lives of men such as these
form the basis of Australian folklore. Rebelling against
abject poverty, and the hardship of life on the land,
the 1850s bushranger found the Gold Rush created a
fertile environment in which to ply his trade. With
the infrastructure of society dissolving in the face
of the mad dash for gold, the 1850s offered easy pickings
as people deserted their homes, shopkeepers their stores
and troopers their posts. It did not help the police
that many people sympathised with the bushrangers’ hatred
of the oppressive colonial authorities. Many saw bushrangers
as heroes of the downtrodden, a fact illustrated by
the 60,000 people who signed the petition to save Ned
Kelly from the noose in 1880.
Sell
out expected
Sympathy with Australia’s wild colonial boys
has reverberated down the century since the last bushranger
met his fate, with this fascinating history proving
an outstanding choice for a coin series. Already provoking
a strong response from collector and history buff alike,
there is wide expectation that the limited worldwide
mintage of only 2,500 sets will sell out rapidly. Each
set of four coins, issued as legal tender for the Cook
Islands, is beautifully presented in a rustic timber
case. An informative eight-page historical booklet
incorporating a numbered Certificate of Authenticity
accompanies the set, while the ‘Wanted’ poster
outer sleeve is the perfect finishing touch to a most
impressive collector presentation.
Unrivalled
quality
The initial demand for the 2003 Australian Bushrangers
Proof Coin Collection is as much due to the immense
quality of the coins as it is to the powerful theme.
Struck to the most rigorous Proof standards of the
Perth Mint, these large Two Ounce coins offer a spacious
venue for the glorious full-colour designs. Ken Downie,
Managing Director of Australia’s leading coin
dealer Downie’s & Sherwood, commented on
the outstanding technical quality of this new coin
series. Following recent meetings with the Perth Mint
and other key industry players, Mr Downie said that ‘the
general consensus was that these large, 50.3mm pure
silver coins represented the best application of colour
minting techniques that the Mint had ever produced’.
For further information on the 2003 Australian Bushrangers
Coin Collection, please call Downie’s & Sherwood
Tollfree on 1300 788 358.
PDF press
release: 2003
Australian Bushrangers Coin Collection |
