| Australia | |
| Value | 0.50 AUD |
|---|---|
| Mass | 15.55 g |
| Diameter | 31.51 mm |
| Thickness | 2.00 mm |
| Edge | plain |
| Composition | 75% Copper, 25% Nickel |
| Years of minting | 1969 – present |
| Catalog number | – |
| Obverse | |
| Design | Queen Elizabeth II, Australia's Queen |
| Designer | Ian Rank-Broadley |
| Design date | 1999 |
| Reverse | |
| Design | Australian coat of arms |
| Designer | Stuart Devlin |
| Design date | 1965 |
The twelve-sided Australian fifty-cent piece is the third-largest denomination of the Australian dollar and the largest under a dollar. It was introduced in 1969 [1] to replace the round 50 cents coin introduced in 1966.
It is by diameter the largest Australian coin currently issued and second largest after the Crown of 1937–38. Originally the coin was made of 80% silver and 20% copper (round fifty cents), but as the value of a free-floating silver price became higher, the coins' bullion value became more valuable than their face value and so were withdrawn from circulation. Many commemorative coins have been issued due to their large size allowing for a better image with more content.
As per all coins of Australia, the reigning monarch features on the obverse. Only Elizabeth II has been monarch during the coin's existence. Three portraits of her have featured on the coin: from 1969 to 1984 one by Arnold Machin, from 1985 to 1998 one by Raphael Maklouf and since 1999 a portrait by Ian Rank-Broadley [2] which had been introduced to the coins of the pound sterling a year before.
With a diameter of 31.5 mm, the 50 c coin is one of the largest in size among those currently circulating in the world. Coins of larger diameter include the Costa Rican five-hundred-colónes, Ni Vanuatu fifty-vatu and the fifty-CFP Franc are larger, all 32.9 mm.
Contents |
The Australian fifty-cent coin was the first to display a variation of the obverse design in 1970 for the commemorating the bicentennial of Captain Cook's landing in Australia. Various other designs followed until the one-dollar and twenty-cent included new designs also.
Most years have the coat of arms except those below, years of non-issue are: 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992.
Standard designs were also issued with commemoratives in the following years: 1981, 2004, 2005 and 2010.
| Preceded by Australian 50 cent coin (round) |
Fifty Cents (Australian) 1969–present |
Succeeded by Current |
|
|||||||||||||||||