Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Cents - Elizabeth II 2nd Portrait - Dodecagonal type
| Issuer | Royal Australian Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1969-1984 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The Commonwealth of Australia coat of arms occupies the central field, supported by a red kangaroo (Macropus rufus) on the dexter side and an emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) on the sinister side. The large numeral 50 appears prominently below the shield, with the designer's mark SD — for Stuart Devlin — incuse below the numeral. No peripheral legend appears on the reverse. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Australia's 50-cent coin launched in 1966 as a round silver piece, but the silver content almost immediately became worth more than face value as silver prices climbed. The round coin was pulled after just two years and replaced in 1969 with this twelve-sided copper-nickel piece — the dodecagonal shape chosen specifically to distinguish it by touch from the 20-cent coin in circulation.
The Royal Australian Mint in Canberra struck the bulk of the series, though the Perth Mint contributed in certain years. The twelve-sided format was itself borrowed from the British 50p introduced the same year, a quiet acknowledgment of shared design thinking across Commonwealth mints.