10 Dollars - Elizabeth II 3rd Portrait - Wedge-tailed Eagle - Piedfort

The piedfort format — double-thickness blanks struck from standard dies — was revived in modern numismatics largely through the efforts of the Royal Mint of Great Britain in the early 1980s, and the Royal Australian Mint adopted the technique shortly after for prestige collector issues. This 1994 piece belongs to the Wedge-tailed Eagle series, which the RAM launched to compete directly with established bullion and collector programs like the American Eagle and the Krugerrand, targeting the growing international numismatic market rather than domestic circulation.

The piedfort's extra mass comes entirely from the blank, not any alteration to the dies — meaning the relief reads identically to the standard issue, but the coin sits noticeably heavier in the hand.