Silver Dog on Golden Leach

The Year of the Dog is upon the coin collectors long before the Chinese New Year is celebrated in February 2018. But no matter! Rejoice, and send happy thoughts to the coin designer Ing Ing Jong at Perth Mint, Australia.

Jong has managed to convey the cuteness in dogs you either love or hate. Dogs, man’s best friends, are minted in gold and silver in the traditional Lunar series II. If you prefer silver to gold as collector items you have eye-candy to spend your hard earned money. The 1 oz. collector coins are presented as a typeset of four. You get Proof, Gilded, Colored Finishes and Bullion. The 1 oz. coins are 99,99% pure silver and legal tender in Australia. But shame on the Perth Mint management for their choices of dog breeds.

Going to the Dogs
As mention above, seen from a collector’s point of view, the coins looks great. But seen from a Boxer dog owner’s point of view, a German Shepherd is a sad sight. But really, since the Australian Lunar coins are related to the Chinese Zodiac, the dogs on both the silver and gold coins should have been Chinese dogs: The Chinese Crested would have been a good choice for the silver coin and Sonshi Quan (Chow-Chow)would have been great on the 1 oz. gold coin. The Chow-Chow is an ancient dog breed, also called “The Son of the East”. The mutt was imported to England more than 100 years ago, and it is known for its blue tongue and fluffy fur.

Australian Bullion

Anyway, if you like the Australian bullion coins, you get added value if you like dogs, and excellent value for your money if you love German Shepherds or Labrador Retrievers. You can buy the silver bullion 1 oz. coin version at Tavex in Oslo for NOK 225,55 (05.10.17) Wood's Blogspot