Coins

2003 Australian Bushrangers Coin Collection
source: downies.com

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