The Silver Kookaburra is a silver bullion coin originating from Australia, and produced at the Perth Mint starting in 1990. The coins are .999 fine silver. While the obverse of the coin always depicts Queen Elizabeth II, the reverse side changes every year, always featuring a kookaburra, a bird native to Australia. Due to the yearly design change and limited production of the one ounce coins, they have higher collectible value than some other bullion coins. The Perth Mint generally ships the coins in individual plastic capsules. One-ounce coins ship in shrink wrap rolls of 20, with 5 rolls in each box of 100. Special editions such as proof, high relief, privy marked, colored, and gilded are often available. They are minted in the following four sizes:
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the kookaburra coin, the 2015 coin features the same image of the kookaburra as the original 1990 coin. To differentiate the 1990 and 2015 coins the date on the reverse reads 1990-2015 and 2015 has been added to the obverse. The 2015 coin had a release date of September 1, 2014.
One Ounce Silver Kookaburra Minting History
The maximum mintage of the one ounce coin is capped while the others have unlimited mintage based on demand. The 2013 mintage was to be expanded to one million, but this was later backed down to 500,000, saying future years would continue to be limited to 500,000. In addition to the yearly design change, there is also a design change between the bullion and proof versions of the coin each year. No proof coins were minted between 2006-2011; however, there was a 1-ounce silver proof Kookaburra colored coin struck in 2012 for the Discover Australia coin series. Since 2012, the proof coin has been struck in high relief only.