Royal Australian Mint Strikes First Coin of the Year

On 1 January 2023, and following a two-year break due to COVID, the Royal Australian Mint (RAM) held its annual First Coin of the Year event at its facility in Canberra.

Visitors were invited to the Mint on the morning of 1 January and given one ticket to enter a ballot to choose 100 people to receive the first coins of the year. From the ballot, Taiwanese exchange student Mina Hsu was selected to help press the very first coin of 2023 – not just the first coin in Australia, but in the world.

CEO Leigh Gordon noted that ‘after a two-year hiatus, we are excited to bring back this annual tradition and have members of the public gather in person to collect the first coins, as well as observe the exciting new theme of the collection – Creatures of the Deep’.

RAM collaborated with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, to showcase the underwater discoveries made by scientists aboard the organisation’s flagship research vessel Investigator. The collection celebrates the Investigator alongside several rarely seen deep sea creatures including the bigfin squid, brittle star, dumbo octopus, gold coral, blob fish or tripodfish, cactus urchin and the spiny king crab.

‘The 2023 new coin collection highlights these collaborative voyages and the significant contribution they have made to better understand life in our oceans’, said CSIRO Acting CEO, Professor Elanor Huntington.

The coins were designed by RAM artist Stevan Stojanovic, with the reverse featuring the Investigator above the sea and its surface underwater vehicle below the waves. The first coin also featured the spiny king crab and coral, with the other coins set to portray the other deep sea creatures previously mentioned.

The obverse of the coins feature a new commemorative design paying tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II. The design includes British engraver Jody Clark’s Commonwealth portrait of the late Queen and the dates of her reign, ‘1952-2022’.

This coin collection marks the last time a new design of the late monarch will be released, with new Australian coins set to feature the portrait of King Charles III from late 2023 onwards.