Description

In 2019 - following the great success of the Royal Mint in the United Kingdom with the 10 pence A to Z Collection - the Royal Australian Mint (RAM), in collaboration with Australia Post, started a similar campaign, The Great Aussie Coin Hunt. A series of 26 $1 coins feature each letter of the English alphabet and an Australian symbol starting with that letter. The designs range from didgeridoos and quokkas to products deemed by many as the culinary epitome of Australian culture — meat pies and lamingtons. Brand names such as Weet-Bix, Iced VoVos and Zooper Doopers feature on the coins, with the famed Ramsay Street sign from TV soap Neighbours also making an appearance. Everyone can join in the hunt by going into any one of the 3,600 participating Post Offices, making a purchase and receiving the $1 collectable coins in their change.

Obverse

Fourth crowned portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II facing right, wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara.

The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother, Queen Mary, who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969. The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread use on British banknotes and coinage.

Engraver: Ian Rank-Broadley

ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2019
IRB

Reverse

Depicts a pair of thong sandals. There are 12 thin concave lines with identical curvatures and 3 thick concave lines with identical curvatures.

Flip-flops are a type of sandal, typically worn as a form of casual wear. They consist of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap known as a toe thong that passes between the first and second toes and around both sides of the foot or can be a hard base with a strap across all the toes (these can also be called sliders). This style of footwear has been worn by the people of many cultures throughout the world, originating as early as the ancient Egyptians in 1,500 B.C.

The term flip-flop has been used in American and British English since the 1960s to describe the thong or no-heel-strap sandal. It is an onomatopoeia of the sound made by the sandals when walking in them. They are called thongs (sometimes pluggers) in Australia.

T
ONE DOLLAR • THONGS

Edge

7 sections

Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Aluminium Bronze
Weight 9 g
Diameter 25 mm
Thickness 2.5 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Royal Australian Mint (RAM)

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