The Royal Australian Mint has announced that, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, it will produce one million $1 coins bearing King Charles' face in 2023[1] with the new effigy to fully replace a temporary memorial effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by May 2024.
The first effigy was designed by Arnold Machin, the second by Raphael Maklouf, the third by Ian Rank-Broadley and the fourth by artist Jody Clark.
The coin was issued in a dodecagonal (12-sided) shape starting in 1969, although the 12-sided version had been minted in 1966–67 as a specimen piece, to test the design.
Due to the metal exceeding face value, the minting of one- and two-cent coins was discontinued in 1991, and they were withdrawn from circulation.
After the death of Elizabeth II and the change of its Sovereign, new Australian coins began to be minted with King Charles III on their obverse in December 2023.
In 2016, to celebrate 50 years of decimal currency, a commemorative design for the obverse of the coins was released.
[7] Australian collectable coins are all legal tender[8] and can be used directly as currency or converted to "normal" coinage at a bank.
Metals include aluminium bronze, silver, gold and bi-metal coins.
[9] Nugget coins are issued in troy ounces and fractions or kilograms and come in gold and platinum, some are denominated in dollars, and others by their weight value.