OK folks, I am skipping around a bit, but... WE ARE IN AUSTRALIA. Suffice it to say, the plane and car ride to get here were long. Current location is Canberra, the country’s capital and my husband’s hometown.

^{Views of Parliament House from the top of Mt. Ainsle in Australia’s capital city.}

I will chat about Canberra in upcoming posts. However, today is all for my steem silver gold friends. Yesterday my father in law took me to the city’s only coin shop. I have to admit my expectations were low, but the place was awesome. I left the store with two wonderful coins I’d like to share with you today.

^{The Queen, always the queen.}

Well, where should I even start? As I mentioned, there are two coins. Each was created in cooperation of the Perth and Royal Australian Mints from .999 pure silver. They are one Troy ounce and have a face value of $5 AUD. These coins were minted in 2000 and are part of a 16 coin set celebrating the Sydney Summer Olympics!

^{Edge lettering!!!}

All 16 coins were available at the LCS (local coin shop), but two in particular caught my eye. Each depicts one of Australia’s most iconic landmarks. I was lucky to pay $70 AUD for the pair ($24 USD each). For me the mark up was reasonable considering the quality and subject matter of each coin.

Let’s have a peek at each.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

I LOVE this coin. The detail on it is absolutely ridiculous. The bridge looks amazing. I like the colorized Olympic Rings and the Sydney inscription at the base, and the decorative edge depicting the ferries and sailboats crossing Sydney Harbour is like nothing I have seen before on a coin. The Harbour Bridge is an incredibly impressive site in reality and this coin captures that perfectly.

^{View of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on my last visit to Australia in 2017.}

Let’s take a closer look at some of the details.

^{The logo of the Sydney Olympics.}

^{Close up of the coin’s border.}

The Sydney Opera House

The Opera House is Australia’s most famous landmark. The view of the building shown on this coin is one you will only see from the middle of Sydney Harbour. The border on this coin is created from other buildings in Sydney’s central business district, including Centrepoint, the Observatory, and St. Mary’s Cathedral.

^{A closer look at the coin’s border.}

^{Centrepoint Tower is easy to spot in this shot.}

^{A similar view of the Opera House also taken during my 2017 visit to Sydney.}

What I love about these coins is they embody every element that got me into coin collecting. The images are so well designed. Each is of a place I love visiting. They are perfect souvenirs from a trip to Australia and to top it off, each is great value for the money spent.

Cheers from Down Under! 🇦🇺🐨💚💛 @dfinney

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Proud Member of:

steemsugars, steemusa, teamaustralia and steemsilvergold