Description
FIFTY CENTS
Circulating coins are the coins Australians use everyday. They are mass-produced coins and made from base metals such as copper, nickel and aluminium, struck at the rate of up to 650 per minute.
While they ordinarily feature reverse designs of Australian fauna (or an Aboriginal elder on the two dollar coin), many commemorative coins are released to mark events, people or organisations which have had a significant impact on Australian society.
The fifty cent coin was first introduced with decimal currency on 14 February 1966.
The original design featured the Commonwealth Coat of Arms struck on a coin made from 80% silver. However as the silver price rose above the face value of the coin the Mint suspended striking of the coin in March 1968.
Although it was rumoured that the Mint had lost money striking the fifty cent, all the metal used in the manufacture of the 36.5 million coins produced was purchased before the price rises.
Apart from the uneconomic cost of continuing the issue of the silver fifty cent coins, increasing confusion arose regarding the similarity in sizes between the circular fifty cent and the twenty cent coin. The decision to reissue a fifty cent coin considered not only a change to materials but also different shapes to help solve the confusion with the twenty cents.
A new shape and alloy was reintroduced into circulation in September 1969.
This denomination has since been used for commemorative designs.
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