Australian 2006 Uncirculated Mint Set
The Set
The 2006 mint set celebrated the 40th anniversary of decimal currency and did so in the most direct way possible: by bringing back the 1 cent and 2 cent coins. The set was a one-off return to eight coins, the two bronze denominations joining the five standard coins and the two dollar for the first time since 1991. The mintage was 87,407 and the issue price $23.50, and the set proved popular with collectors who had grown up with the small coins.
The Returning Small Coins
The 1 cent and 2 cent coins in the set are dated 2006 - bronze denominations that had been withdrawn from circulation fourteen years earlier, struck once more for the anniversary year and never issued in a later set. Their feathertail glider and frill-necked lizard reverses, absent from the coinage since 1992, returned exactly as Stuart Devlin had drawn them in 1966. For denomination collectors the two coins are the only post-1991 examples of their kind in uncirculated condition, which gives the set an importance beyond its anniversary theme.
The remaining six coins - 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, one dollar and two dollars - carry their standard designs, all with the Ian Rank-Broadley obverse. The set is a natural bookend to the 1992 Barcelona set, which began the six-coin era that this anniversary issue briefly interrupted.
| Set details | |
|---|---|
| Packaging | Presentation folder |
| Coins | 8 (1 cent to 2 dollars - one-off composition) |
| Special feature | The 1 cent and 2 cent return for the anniversary |
| Mintage | 87,407 |
| Issue price | $23.50 |
| File:Australian UNC Set 2006 packaging.jpg | File:Australian UNC Set 2006 coins.jpg | The 2006 anniversary set: eight coins, with the 1 cent and 2 cent back for one year only. |
| File:Australian UNC Set 2006 1c 2c.jpg | The returning 1 cent and 2 cent, struck for one year only after fourteen years away. |
