The Australian Perth Mint is the official institution for bullion within the nation of Australia. It was founded in 1899, just before Australia became federated, and its purpose was to refine the gold and silver that had been discovered in the Outback so that it could be used throughout the British Empire (of which Australia was a colony at the time).

History of the Perth Mint

The Perth Mint was established during a time when Australia was experiencing rapid growth. This growth resulted in the discovery of multiple gold deposits near Kalgoorlie, Murchison and Coolgardie. At the time, there wasn’t much money in Perth which could be used by the miners to pay for merchandise, which resulted in Diggers flocking to Western Australian from other parts of the world, who then placed their gold in the mint so it could then be converted into coins.

Despite Australia becoming federated by 1901, the Perth Mint would remain under British tutelage until 1970, at which point it was transferred to the Western Australian Government. Early in its history the mint focused mostly on minting British coins but by the 1930s had begun producing gold bars. In 1957 the mint stunned the world by being the first to produce a proof plate of 13 ounces of gold which was considered the purest in the world at the time at 999.999 purity. This greatly impressed the Royal British Mint who acquired a portion of this gold to use as a benchmark for their own products.

Popular Coins from The Perth Mint

Originally a colony of Britain, Australia and its mints were expected to assist in striking British coins. As such in its early days the Perth Mint focused primarily on producing the British Sovereign, and from 1899 until 1931 it is estimated that it struck over 100 million of them. Starting in the 1930s the Perth Mint begin honing its craft in the production of gold bars, but it wouldn’t be until the 1980s that it begin to produce its own indigenous coins.

In 1987 the Australian government established the Gold Corporation and in collaboration with the Department of the Treasury the Perth Mint was encouraged to produce and market gold which fully represented Australia. This led to the creation of the Australian Gold Nugget (which later became the Kangaroo), which is a bullion coin struck by the Perth Mint that was made legal tender within Australia. Other groundbreaking coins include the Australian Koala and Kookaburra.

Want to Buy Coins from the Perth Mint?

Due to the success of the Gold Nugget and other releases the Perth Mint has become one of the most respected institutions of coinage in the world. They provide a number of services including refining to gold manufacturers and many of their products have become sought after by collectors. Those who are looking for Australian coins can be find them through dealers such as Coin Exchange NY. We offer a variety of classical coins struck by this mint as well as newer releases.