These stunning gold and silver coins celebrate turquoise, a gemstone prized and admired by civilizations throughout history. Its special significance in Egyptian, Persian and Aztec cultures, for example, saw it fashioned into a remarkable array of striking jewellery, decorative mosaics and beautiful ceremonial objects.
Significant deposits of turquoise have also been found in the American Southwest States of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Colorado and Utah. Mined for millennia, the gemstone was shaped and polished as adornments by the region’s Native American inhabitants. Today, it remains a significant material in their contemporary jewellery.
Struck from 1oz of 99.99% pure gold and 1oz of 99.9% pure silver in proof quality, the coins are issued as legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965.
The Perth Mint will release no more than 750 of the Treasures of the World – North America 2015 1oz Gold Proof Locket Coin with Turquoise and 7,500 of the Treasures of the World – North America 2015 1oz Silver Proof Locket Coin.
DESIGNS
Both coins incorporate a transparent circular locket containing turquoise. The locket is surrounded with a reverse design representing a Southwestern desert landscape, including a cactus, tumbleweed and vertical rock face. The reverse also incorporates The Perth Mint’s ‘P’ mintmark and the inscription TURQUOISE.
Each coin’s obverse depicts the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the monetary denomination, and the 2015 year-date.
