2013 Year of Snake

1 oz and 2 oz Reverse

1 oz Obverse

2 oz Obverse

Mintage

1 kilo: 30,966
10 oz : 28,136
5 oz : 20,102
2 oz : 55,933
1 oz: 300,000
1/2 oz: 160,108

1/2 oz Silver Proof

1/2 oz Silver Proof Obverse

1 oz Silver Proof

1 oz Silver Proof Obverse - Coloured Proof has same Obverse

1 oz Silver Proof Reverse

1 oz Silver Coloured Proof Reverse (Graded in Slab)

1 oz Silver High Relief Proof Obverse

1 oz Silver High Relief Proof Reverse

1/2 oz and 1 oz Proof

1/2 oz and 1 oz High Relief Proof

1/2 oz, 1 oz High Relief and 1 oz Proof

Unofficial 1 oz Typeset

My collection of Silver Lunar Snake for 2013

Fall in popularity of the Perth Mint Silver Lunar Series?

The Horse Typeset is my first ever typeset that I've owned. What should have been a joy to be one of the 1,500 people to the Typeset, turned out to be an intriguing buy. Perth Mint chose to stagger their release of the popular and limited edition lunar coins. It was found to be still available many days after I locked in my order on launch day makes me wonder if the Perth Mint Typeset is still popular. After-all, the once very popular Dragon Typeset was sold on ebay near launch price on 16 Oct 2013 albeit the box was a little wrinkled but no damage to the coins. In addition, there are still many Snake Typeset looking for owners in the secondary market.

There were many collectors as well as naysayers felt that Perth Mint shot themselves in the foot by over producing many varieties of the Dragon. Perth Mint further incurred the wrath of 2 Oz Proof coin collectors by suddenly issuing set of 6 Lunar Animal from 2008 - 2013 all at the same time, hence breached the term 'Maximum Mintage' in doing so.

Having said that, we have to bear in mind the series is just half complete. What is the significance in this? When I first started buying first Series of the Lunar coins, I was paying less than S$40 per oz for the Dragon coin when spot was hovering around US$17.50 - 21 and it was the same for the other animals in the series. As I write, silver spot is around US$22.50 and the price of the second Series Lunar coins range between S$45 - 66, which is thereabout.

While it is too early to say that prices would definitely soar in 2019 - year of pig, I still see upside to current prices though US$100 for the Dragon is quite impossible to hit unless silver spot breaks the US$50 mark.

2014 Year of Horse 1 oz Silver Typeset

1 oz BU

1 oz Gilded

1 oz Coloured BU

1 oz Proof

Coloured Proof vs Coloured BU

Proof vs BU

2012 Silver Proof Dragon and Other Dragon Issues

The milking of the dragon was supposed to end on 3 September 2012 when Year of the Snake Silver Bullion Coins are minted. However, on 31 October 2012, Perth Mint made the last effort to mint High Relief Gold Proof Dragon of 388 mintage whereby 38 are released in Australia at A$2,818.

My Unofficial Typeset that comprises of (from left): Bullion, Gilded, Proof, Coloured Proof

The original mint issued typeset comprised of Bullion, Gilded Bullion, Coloured Bullion and Proof with issue price at A$331.82. The highest price I managed to spot, was sold in ebay for A$1,150 on 22 Oct 2011 - nearly 3.5 times of the issue price.

The silver proof version is normally the most sort after numismatic single coin of the series. The 1 oz Silver Proof coin was issued at A$97.27, hitting a high of US$415 on 5 Oct 2011 - almost 4 times.

In response to market demands for near historical high silver spot price and the popularity of Year of Dragon coins, Perth Mint issued the first ever Proof Coloured Lunar coin at the same price (A$97.27) as the Proof version. Its mintage is, however, double that of the Proof version at 10,000. Hence, it only hit a high of US$236 on 12 Oct 2011 - less than 2.5 times, compared to the non-coloured version.

The gilded dragon has been sold out at its maximum mintage of 50,000. It is a remarkable sell-out as the rest of the gilded coins that were issued since 2008 did not even manage to sell 20,000 pieces. Issued at A$90, it hit a high of US$150.50 on 14 Oct 2011 - about 1.5 times.

Royal Australian Mint Silver Kangaroo Mintage

The mintage of the Royal Australia Mint (RAM) Silver Kangaroo has always been a mystery as RAM does not release its Declared Mintage like Perth Mint does.

There are numbers put up by numismatics enthusiasts as well as dealers. However it is not known where the numbers came from. The numbers put up here are taken from Annual Reports of RAM starting from year 2001.

Total mintage that includes carded, capsuled and cased coins
2001 - 45,562
2002 - 32,376
2003 - 35,230
2004 - 30,601
2005 - 26,146
2006 - 25,535
2007 - 4,000
2008 - 11,645
2009 - 13,923
2010 - 9,266
2011 - 22,126
2012 - 19,853

Detailed breakdown of each type

Year 2001 Carded: 26,959; Capsuled: 10,850; Cased: 7,753
Remarks: 3,156 Carded were accounted in page 60 of 2001/02 Annual Report

Year 2002 Carded: 32,176; Cased: 200
Remarks: 3,040 Carded and 200 Cased were accounted in page 3 of 2002/03 Annual Report Supplement

Year 2003 Carded: 20,680; Capsuled: 2,550; Cased: 12,000
Remarks: 3,378 Carded, 2,050 Capsuled and 1,200 Cased were accounted in page 5 of 2003/04 Annual Report Supplement

Year 2004 Carded: 19,324; Cased: 11,277
Remarks: 1,863 Carded and 350 Cased were accounted in page 5 of 2004/05 Annual Report Supplement

Year 2005 Carded: 16,446; Cased: 9.700
Remarks: 1,690 Carded were accounted in page 87 of 2005/06 Annual Report

Year 2006 Carded: 17,983; Cased: 7.552
Remarks: 308 Carded were accounted in page 85 of 2006/07 Annual Report

Year 2007 Carded: ? Cased: 4,000

Remarks: This is the most mysterious year as there was no carded coins accounted for Year 2007 but there are actually 2 different versions of 2007 carded coins being sold. Royal Australian Mint (RAM) had not wanted to continue on the kangaroos because of low demand. But dealers approached RAM to produce it. RAM's condition was that each dealer has to make a minimum of 500. Hence 4,000 specimen specimen frosted strike was produced in RAM issued velvet and satin lined case in a capsule without any COA.

Year 2008 Carded: 9,945; Capsuled: 1,700
Remarks: 5,402 Carded were accounted in page 85 of 2006/07 Annual Report, 4,543 Carded and 1,700 Capsuled were accounted in page 109 of 2007/08 Annual Report

Year 2009 Carded: 6,320; Capsuled: 7,603
Remarks: 300 Carded were accounted in page 114 of 2009/10 Annual Report

Year 2010 Carded: 8,050; Capsuled: 1,216

Year 2011 Carded: 10,803; Capsuled: 11,323 were accounted in page 107 of 2010/11 Annual Report

Year 2012 Carded: 8,849 Capsuled: 11,004 were accounted in page 108 of 2011/12 Annual Report

Australian Silver Kookaburra Re-Strike Mintage

In late 2012, Perth Mint decided to re-strike Silver Kookaburras that were not up to their planned maximum mintage. While it is good news for new collectors, old collectors were not too happy as they would have paid some premiums for the older bullions. Perth Mint re-struck bullions from 1991 to 2007 with volumes from just over 10,000 to 25,000 for each year.

Best deal of the re-strike has to be that of the 1991 version. Early strikes had market price of about S$70 per coin. The re-strike bullion could be bought for as low as S$45 per coin. That brought the equilibrium to the range of S$60 - 65 per coin. That being said, the price of 1991 1 oz Silver Kookaburra would at least rise to the range of S$70 - 80 given that silver spot trade above US$25.

The summarised new v.s. previous mintage as of January 2013 is shown below and we can have a feel of how many 1 oz Silver Kookaburra bullion were re-struck:

1991: 300,000 (278,136)
1992: 219,694 (195,118)
1993: 190,581 (165,406)
1994: 174,561 (153,414)
1995: 154,247 (131,411)
1996: 170,105 (146,286)
1997: 159,497 (147,781)
1998: 103,119 (91,550)
1999: 109,364 (98,513)
2000: 104,169 (93,238)
2001: 169,265 (158,969)
2002: 91,604 (76,245)
2003: 109,439 (109,439)
2004: 74,059 (84,455)
2005: 80,336 (95,145)
2006: 73,765 (87,044)
2007: 197,229 (213,436)

2011 Year of Rabbit (1 oz Gilded)