Year of the rooster Australian gold, silver and opal coins a boon for Perth Mint
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Perth Mint's casting of its year of the rooster commemorative coins has seen massive collector interest worldwide, selling out of its silver and opal centrepiece days before the end of the Lunar New Year celebrations.
Neil Vance of Perth Mint said its silver one-ounce coins, which has a rooster insert made of Australian opal, have sold well.
"The mintage of the silver and opal year of the rooster is only 5,000 so they've been heavily sought after throughout the world," he said.
"We mostly export the coins to overseas buyers and the opal offset against the silver has proved very attractive to collectors."
Mr Vance, the group manager of minted products, heads a team of six designers that often take years to perfect a single design.
The mint has been casting Lunar New Year coins since the year of the rat in 1996.
The Chinese tradition of buying gifts, especially gold, for new year celebrations has been driving the trade.
The mint's solid one-ounce gold coins with the rooster are more traditional in Chinese culture, Mr Vance said.
"We've already sold out of silver and opal coins. We've also sold all our 300,000 silver bullion coins and the 30,000 gold rooster coins," he said.
"All up we'll sell over half a million coins and unlike many commemorative coins they're legal tender and backed by a Government guaranteed investment and storage program."
The gold used in the coins is mined across the country and refined in Western Australia, where the low Australian dollar has pushed up the value of gold locally.
Silver coins are also minted with the silver sourced in both Australia and overseas.
Chinese desire for value and luck
Yuliya Lin, a real estate lawyer based in Perth, described the Lunar New Year as being very similar to Christmas in the western world.
"It is a time for families to get together and no matter where they are in the world they will try very hard to visit their family for one month at the start of the new year," she said.
"It is also a time of gift giving and precious metals, especially gold, are very popular.
"The gold keeps away bad spirits. It is wrapped in a piece of piece of red ribbon which also keeps away the bad spirits.
Ms Lin said she presented her 10-year-old daughter with a gold bracelet for the new year.
"Gold is given to those born in the year being celebrated, so this year those born in the year of the rooster will be given some form of gold," she said.
"That is a way of storing wealth and the Chinese feel gold is a good value way to do that."
Topics: mining-rural, community-and-society, silver, currency, gold, mining-industry, perth-6000, china
