What’s Your Sign? Spectacular Lunar Zodiac Chinese Gold Coins!
The Chinese Zodiac is comprised of twelve animal representations and is traditionally referred to as “Sheng xiao”. The twelve animals represent not only each month of the year, but also each year of a twelve-year cycle. The Chinese Zodiac is not like ours, which assigns itself equivalent constellations. The zodiac symbols are representative of twelve diverse personalities that are found in people. Beginning with the year 1900, assign it to the first animal, then follow with 1901 and assign it to the second animal and so forth. The animals are as follows: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Once you have assigned a year to all the animals, you can then keep adding the number twelve to the original year, until your birth year falls into one of the animal categories. For example, the Rat years are 1900, 1912, 1924, 1936, etc. The Chinese zodiac signs are popular today and are used in other oriental and occidental cultures.
To honor the Chinese zodiac, Lunar Zodiac Chinese gold coins were released. The first gorgeous, gold lunar zodiac series was started in 1981, with the Rooster, going through 1992 and the round, 8-gram gold proof coins were minted in .917 pure gold. The denomination starts with 250 Yuan, for the first year coins and then 200 Yuan, for the second year, with the rest of years being 150 Yuan. On the reverse of the dazzling 1981 coins is the White Pagoda Baita in Beijing; on the 1982 coins is the Hall of Prayer For Good Harvest, in the Temple of Heaven. The following years of these impressive Chinese gold coins have different places of cultural and religious importance. From 1988-1999, beginning with the Dragon, a round, 1-ounce gold proof of .999 pure gold was released. The denomination is 100 Yuan and on the reverse of the 1988 coin, is the Temple of Heaven, with the State Seal on the remainder of the years’ reverse. In 1988-1999 a 5-ounce and 12-ounce round, gold coin series was also released.
See these Chinese gold coins here...
Ever Changing – The Incredible Australian Gold Kangaroo Coin
The Australian Kangaroos or Gold Nuggets, as they were originally called, are gold bullion coins which are minted by the Perth Mint. The Gold Nugget series began production in 1986 and was introduced by the Gold Corporation, which is a company owned by the government of Western Australia. These coins are of 99.99% or 24-karat fine gold and come in five troy ounce sizes: 1/20 ounce, 1/10 ounce, ¼ ounce, ½ ounce and 1 ounce. These Gold Nuggets are legal tender in Australia and have the face values of $5, $15, $25, $50 and $100.
From 1986 the reverse side of the coins featured a variety of gold nuggets, which are found in Australia. However, to those not residing in Australia, the nuggets appeared to be lumps of soil or meteorites. In 1989 the design was changed to display the kangaroo, the National Animal of Australia, something the world distinguished as Australia’s symbol. This design is changed every year to show a different portrait of their beloved marsupial. The Chinese Gold Panda is another of the world’s gold bullion coins that changes their design yearly. On the arc of the Gold Kangaroo is “The Australian Nugget”, the ounces, the purity of the gold and the date.
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