50 Cents - Elizabeth II 4th Portrait - Year of the Monkey

The Royal Australian Mint's lunar series has tracked the Chinese zodiac since the late 1990s, timed partly to acknowledge Australia's significant Chinese-Australian population and its deep commercial ties with China. The Year of the Monkey falls ninth in the twelve-year cycle, associated in Chinese tradition with intelligence and unpredictability — a fact the Mint's marketing team leaned on heavily. These circulated through general channels but were just as frequently pulled from change and saved, keeping true circulation examples relatively scarce despite healthy mintages.