Celebrating Australia Day : Drop Bear Coins
Australia Day is coming up this Friday and what better way to get into the spirit than to get my Perth Mint Coin collections out of storage and pay tribute to one of our national treasures - The Drop Bear!
Source
For those not from Australia I’ll let you in on the secret. The Drop Bear is one of many National Jokes that Aussies make about one of our cutest and cuddliest animals. For some reason part of our national psyche gets great amusement from scaring the hell out of tourists in the bush with warnings of Drop Bears that could jump out of a tree at any moment and rip your face off!
Source
There it is, I put it on the blockchain and it’s now immutable. I forever am now risking my Australian Citizenship by spoiling the National Joke. I’m probably going to be charged with Treason for it. Just do me a favour and if you ever come here please play along and pretend you’re scared! Much appreciated!
Seriously though, we love our National Jokes but we love our cute and cuddly Koalas too. So much so that the Perth Mint has made a number of Koala Coins. There is the semi-numismatic Silver Coin series featuring the Koala with a design that changes every year. I still haven’t picked up the 2018 Koala Coin yet as it’s only just been released on January 8. It looks pretty nice though, so I’ll be getting one with my next Bullion Dealer order.
So I’m not going to make it in time for Australia Day but in the meantime I can admire some of the older Koala Coins I’ve accumulated from 2009 to 2017. The Koala Coins actually started in 2007 so I am missing 2 of the very early ones and the Mintage for those years is quite low so they can be hard to find. I don’t mind though because when it comes to collecting Silver Coins it’s better to start late than never start.
For those stackers more interested in low premium Gold, here is a Gold Koala from 1980 which is 22K and weighs 10 grams. You can often find these going cheap on the secondary market at www.silverstackers.com
Then there is my Grand Daddy of them all. A High Relief Special 1oz Gold Proof Koala Coin from 2012 which carries a bit of extra premium.
NOTE - I do have some spare sets of Silver Koala Coins from 2010 to 2017 if anyone is interested in starting with collecting the Silver Koala Coin series. Just hit me up on Discord and I can do you a special STEEM price, but get in before Australia Day as they'll be going back into secure storage soon.
http://tasmancave.blogspot.com.au
http://www.perthmintbullion.com
OMG.. laughing so hard.. I have a soft spot for Drop bears. I threaten my English Mates with them all the time.. especially the ones who move out here and then spend their whole life bitching about all the bitey and stingy animals we have (sometimes I think they might mean me!)
Glad you got some laughs. I started out just writing about the coins and then the silliness took over :)
Seems appropriate that you should be tormenting your English mates. That's very Australian behaviour there too :)
If I had a bundle of STEEM to spare I would take them off your hands for sure!!
They'd go nicely with my 2017 .9999 2oz
Dropbearerr KoalaI haven't seen that one before. He really does look a bit mean! Where did you get it?
He does look mean. I wasn't sure about him, until I picked him up from the Perth Mint - He's on the numismatic side of the shop. A bit expensive, but I picked him up on sale at 40% off. It's back to normal price now though.
Bit of vegemite smeared behind each ear and she'll be right.
LOL. That is a good one. I bet some naive tourists have been convinced of this on more than one occassion.
Great article - love the coins.
You've just prompted me to dig out my KKK tomorrow for Oz Day ( 1 Kilo Killer Koala - try saying that 3 times in a hurry)
It's the same design as your 2011 one with the Mum and Baby in the tree.
Nice! I have that one in a 10oz, but a kilo is a hell of a big coin.
Great post. Check this one out. I happen to have quite a lot of these. Good to flip or in a giveaway? I mean did many miss this proof version of 2015?
Not sure mate. Proofs are not really my thing and I have no idea how to value them.
Those are great man, the koalas are actually the only year set's I've been able to complete.
PS so you mean they dont actually drop from trees and attack you?
No, it's just a joke. Twisted Aussie humour at it's finest. Koalas are big softies.
LOL Some Canadians do the same thing, beware of snow snakes. ;) I also heard some Aussies when traveling will make up sayings and tell people nonsense about what they mean. Like "I'm not just here to fuck spiders mate" is what you;d say if someone says "We getting drunk tonight?" at a bar lol
Sounds about right. We're a nation of bullshit artists and pranksters. But....I've said too much!
Life is short, gotta have fun eh? I mean, we're not just here to fuck spiders and die right? lol
I also have a Koala coin. I really like it, but i dont think most people like the coloured ones from 2014
.
Thanks for the story and the great post.
Nice one. I have never really considered the coloured coins before. They look pretty but just don't seem quite pure with the paint. Have you seen the gilded coins?
Yes I have seen a couple of those.
Nah Dude, Drop Bears are real. Don't say such things. That's like Tourists stealing the "Don't Swim Here 'Cause Crocodiles" signs from Rivers then the next bunch getting eaten. People could get seriously hurt or maimed if they wander into the Bush without knowing the dangers from Drop Bears.
Of course. I am being horribly irresponsible. My apologies! ;)
Yikes! Reminds me of the Asian Alligator Slug and the loathesome African Hoop Snake! The latter will roll right out of a tree and strangle ya, while the former can cause serious flesh wounds.