The Royal Australian Mint has honoured the legendary rock band AC/DC on their 45th anniversary by producing special edition 50-cent and $5 coins.
30,000 50-cent coins and 10,000 $5 coins will not be circulated, but they will be available online. The 50-cent coin will cost you $15, while the $5 coin will set you back $130.
A statement released by the Royal Australian Mint claimed that the designs of the coins were inspired by AC/DC’s hit single ‘Thunderstruck’ and from various album artwork, with Royal Australian Mint Chief Executive Officer Ross MacDiarmid saying, “AC/DC is famous for their electrifying energy. It’s in their music, the titles of some of their songs, even their insignia.”
The 50-cent coin features two yellow lighting bolts on either side of a special AC/DC coat of arms that features guitarist Angus Young front and centre sporting his iconic school-boy uniform and cap, as well as devil horns and tail.
The date “1973 – 2018” is inscribed at the top of the coat of arms with “45 years of thunder” gracing the top of the coin as a tribute to the song ‘Thunderstruck’.
The nickel plated black $5 coin features similar design aspects of incorporating the band’s logo with lightning bolts and Angus Young placed at the bottom of the inverted triangular coin.
The shape of this coin is particularly noteworthy as the Royal Australian Mint have stated on their website that the shape of the coin mimics a guitar pick.
This is the first ever coin that has been nickel plated by the mint.
In celebration of the launch of the new coins, the Royal Australian Mint partnered up with Questacon in Canberra to strike a number of the coins with man-made lightning using a Tesla coil.
Ten 50-cent coin pieces were ‘Thunderstruck’ with 3,500,000 volts of lightning with Royal Australian Mint Chief Executive Officer Ross MacDiarmid explaining, “The Mint thought that such an iconic band deserved high voltage coins and an electrifying launch to match.”
“We weren’t sure what effect the lightning would have on the coins, but we discovered that because the coins are such excellent conductors of electricity, the lightning’s mark is only visible under magnification,” he continued.
The ten ‘Thunderstruck’ coins will be randomly sent out to the ten customers who order these limited edition coins through the Mint’s online store of Contact Centre.
To identify the special coins, a unique frosting has ben applied to the coin’s AC/DC logo.
Both coins are officially licensed AC/DC merchandise and are available now at eshop.ramint.gov.au or by phoning the Contact Centre on 1300 652 020.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
