Australia 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games Sports Collection Series -Cycling 50c
Cycling events held at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games were made up of three disciplines, track cycling, road cycling and mountain biking. Australia dominated the road and track cycling events with 11 gold medals. Racing on home turf was a real advantage for the Aussie team. Australian cyclist Kate Bates rode to gold in the velodrome in memory of her teammate Amy Gillet who was tragically killed in 2005.
To celebrate the sporting events held during the Melbourne Commonwealth Games a series of 16 50c coins were released by the Royal Australian Mint as well as a student designed 50c, a one dollar, $5 and $10 coins. The Mint was one of the sponsors of the Games and also designed and produced the winners' medals.
One of the next coins coins in the second release in this 50 cent coin series after the Basketball, Hockey, Shooting and Weightlifting coins was the coin depicting Cycling. It was released as a collector coin and not issued for circulation. It was issued in a capsule in an informative card by itself and for inclusion in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games Sports Collection series. The individual 50c coins in the series were sold for issue price of $4.95.
The coin design is by RAM designer Wojciech Pietranik and depicts cycling in action and the Melbourne 2006 logo. The obverse is the standard portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, who officially opened the Games, by Ian Rank-Broadley. It is the standard dodecagonal shape 31.51mm in size and weighs 15.55g. It is made from cupro nickel which is 75% copper and 25% nickel. The card also features a sticker of 'Karak', a red-tailed black cockatoo and Games mascot indicating it is an official licensed product.
22,861 of these uncirculated coins were issued to collectors which includes 15,500 issued for inclusion in the complete collection folder.
The complete collection folder included the 16 sporting 50c, the student design 50c and the Queen's Baton Relay $5 coin. Initially these folders were sold (May 2005) as a starter pack which included the first 4 sporting 50c coins and the rest of the sporting 50c were sent out to collectors as they were released later in the year. This cycling coin was in the second release in July 2005.
Posted by harrisk at November 30, 2010 10:57 AM
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