5 Cents - Elizabeth II 1st Portrait, In the name of - Echidna, Mary Gillick Obverse, Gold Proof

Australia's five-cent denomination has carried the short-beaked echidna since decimal introduction in 1966, a species chosen partly because its distinctive silhouette reproduced cleanly at small scale. This 2024 gold proof restores Mary Gillick's first Elizabethan portrait — retired from circulation coinage decades ago — pairing it with that original reverse in a combination that never existed in everyday commerce. Gillick's effigy was itself controversial at its 1953 debut; the Queen reportedly objected to the lack of a crown, and the portrait was quietly modified before full production.