$1 Subscription 2003 Holey Dollar Silver Proof

This coin is the seventh in the Royal Australian Mint's annual subscription series where the final mintage was determined by demand from collectors over a short period in March-April 2003. Collectors on the RAM mailing list were given a 4 week period in which to order the coin. Once the order period had closed and numbers were known the production run was completed striking only sufficient coins to fill orders.

The design on a legal tender pure silver $1 proof coin weighing almost two ounces celebrates one of Australia's earliest and most intriguing forms of currency the Holey Dollar and Dump. Initiated by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1813 to remedy a desperate shortage of coins in the fledgling colony of New South Wales the two distinctive coins became the lifeblood of the colony for over a decade.

The details of two excellently preserved original coins have been faithfully replicated with the use of 3-dimensional image scanning technology to recreate the designs at their original size with an overlap providing an attractive crescent moon shape to the signature hole in the centre. Surrounded by a modern proof-finish ring a cameo-like overstamping of the Queen's effigy bridges the 'old' and 'new' coins uniting the past and the present.

With a diameter of 50 mm, this is the largest coin to date in the subscription series. It was housed encapsulated in a specially crafted hinged-lid presentation case and accompanied by a 12-page booklet recounting the colourful history surrounding the creation of the coin.

Second quality inner case