Olympic fever is starting to spread, with the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic games just around the corner, and the Royal Australian Mint is certainly doing it's best to fan those flames. While most mint's are putting one or maybe two Olympics themed coins on the table, the Royal Australian Mint is going all in.
Having already released the olympic “mob of 'roos” one dollar coin, they have just announced the 2016 coloured Olympics two dollar coin collection. The release is split in two with the first coin being a $2 coin to commemorate the Paralympic Games, to be held just following the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Australia 2016 Paralympic $2 Coin Reverse
The reverse of the coin depicts a Paralympic athlete in mid competition with the rear wheel of his racing wheelchair forming the central image of the coin. The circular pattern made up of blue, red, gold and green lines radiating outward. At it's centre is the Australian Paralympic Committee logo. The bottom half of the reverse design has nine horizontal lines Representative of the lanes on an athletics track. The obverse legend is inscribed in two lines in a semi circle on the bottom half of the coin. “TWO DOLLARS” and “2016 AUSTRALIAN PARALYMPIC TEAM”.
Australia 2016 Olympic $2 Coin Obverse
The obverse design is shared across all the coins in this release, it features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II with “ELIZABETH II” appearing on her left and “AUSTRALIA 2016” to the right.
Australia 2016 Olympic Team $2 Coin - Gold Ring Reverse
The second part of the release is a five coin set of two dollar coins. The coins are set to be released over a five week period at a pace of one a week. The design is essentially the same for all five coins with the most notable distinction between them being a coloured circular pattern in the middle of the reverse design. Each of the five coins has a different colour. Blue, green, gold, black and red combined making up the five rings of the Olympic logo. The logo of the Australian Olympic committee is sculpted in the very middle of the coin.
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- Australia 2016 Olympic Team $2 Coin – Blue Ring Reverse
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- Australia 2016 Olympic Team $2 Coin – Black Ring Reverse
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- Australia 2016 Olympic Team $2 Coin – Red Ring Reverse
The rest of the design is comprised of a number of interlinked partial or broken circles that are placed behind the coloured circle and reverse legend of the coin. Each containing a depiction of a different sporting discipline represented in the Olympics. The five coins are all unique, depicting either six or seven different scenes each.
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- Australia 2016 Olympic Team $2 Coin – Green Ring Reverse
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- Australia 2016 Olympic Team $2 Coin – Gold Ring Reverse
The reverse legend of the Australian Olympic Team program $2 coins reads “2016 AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TEAM” and “TWO DOLLARS” and is inscribed along the rim.
The Australian Olympic Team Two Dollar coins will be available individually or in a special collector's set packaging containing all five coins. The set will be available to order from the Royal Australian Mint from July 27, 2016, for AUS $15.00(US$11.50).
Australia 2016 Paralympic $2 Coin in Card
The Paralympic Two Dollar coin will be available to order from August 22nd, 2016, and will be available either on it's own or on a special printed collector's card featuring Australian Paralympic athletes.
Australia 2016 Olympic Team $2 Five Coin Set
All of the coins are legal tender commemorative coins measuring 20.5mm(0.807 inch). Struck from Aluminum-Bronze they weigh 6.6grams each. The Royal Australian Mint has certainly committed itself to supporting and promoting their country's Olympic and Paralympic athletes. These coins are not only well designed and linked to common theme for collectors, but is sure to peak interest even amongst non-collectors if you just happen to come across one of these coins.
