Coins of the Australian dollar

Produced by the Royal Australian Mint, all coins portray Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, with the present effigy having been designed by Ian Rank-Broadley. This is matched with designs by the Australian-born artist Stuart Devlin on the reverse. They now comprise 50-cent, 20-cent, ten-cent and five-cent coins – all still referred to as 'silver' though actually 75% copper and 25% nickel – and for many years there were also "bronze" two-cent and one-cent coins.

The 50-cent coin originally had a circular shape, and contained 80% silver and 20% copper, so that the material of the coin was worth more than 50 cents. It was made to almost identical dimensional specifications as the British 2½-shilling Half-Crown, and was probably also influenced by the US 1964 JFK 90% Silver Half-dollar. However, to avoid confusion among the round coins and because of its excessive value, it was only produced for one year then withdrawn from circulation. There were no 50 cent coins minted for two years and then it was changed to a 12-sided shape for 1969 and all following years, but the 12 sided issue was minted as a specimen piece in 1966-67 to test the design. It has since been issued in both standard and commemorative designs. The standard designs on both versions of the coin are the same: the obverse carries the effigy of the sovereign, and the reverse shows the Coat of Arms of Australia. The dodecagonal version has a mass of 15.55 g and a diameter of 31.51 mm, and the round, silver version has a mass of 13.28 g and diameter of 31.51 mm. An estimate of the value of the silver in the circular coin can be found if the coin is reckoned as being worth XAG 0.3416. 94.13 Australian 1966 round 50c coins make up a fine kilogram of silver. In July 2006 prices this is about AUD 4.92 (approx. 10 times the face value). Many Australians mistakenly believe that the 1966 round 50c piece is quite rare, when in fact Royal Australian Mint records indicate that some 36 million examples were struck, and 11 million were released into circulation. They are hardly ever seen in business today, and nearly all the Australian round 50-cent coins from 1966 that remain in existence are now only traded for their bullion value — very few are sold as collectors' items. They are often confused with the round 50-cent coin from New Zealand with the date 1967-2006, which has a maritime scene on the reverse.

"Gold" two-dollar and one-dollar coins were introduced in the late 1980s. The one-dollar coin was introduced in 1984, to replace the banknote of the same value. The two-dollar coin, also replacing a banknote, was introduced in 1988. These have content of 2% nickel, 6% aluminium and 92% copper. Thus all Australian coins in use currently are composed of more than half copper. The two-dollar coin is smaller than the one-dollar coin, which is unusual and often causes confusion for foreign tourists.

The one- and two-cent coins were discontinued in 1991 and withdrawn from circulation.

Australian coins have medallic orientation, as are most other Commonwealth coinage, Japanese yen coinage, and euro coinage. This is in contrast to coin orientation, which is used in United States coinage.