1/4 oz Australian Lunar Year of the Mouse 1996 Gold Coin

History

Australian Lunar gold coin - Year of the Mouse 

The Chinese lunar calendar is today used by many for Taoist cosmology. It is believed that, depending on the year of the zodiac when a person is born, a special relationship exists between the person’s personality and the animal that constitutes part of the Chinese zodiac. The animals in the zodiac are supposed to be of symbolic nature, where each animal is a representation of a specific group of characteristics and traits that can be found in every human being. There are twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, each of them being celebrated once every twelve years. The year of the mouse was last celebrated in 2008.   

Those born in the year of the mouse are considered to be good at acquiring and safeguarding riches. This ability stems from their naturally curious mind that always seeks out knowledge and, thanks to their quick-wittedness, they are able to take advantage of opportunities. People born under the year of the mouse tend to have strong intuition, are perfectionists and have excellent taste. They are most often ambitious and, in striving to attain their goals, they will use all their wits to succeed, including being charming, persuasive and charismatic. This can attract others and specifically the opposite sex, and although people born in the year of the mouse tend to enjoy a large social circle they most often have more acquaintances than true friends. But once you become their real friend, they will treat you as their family. People born under the year of the mouse are loyal and devoted to their loved ones, making them especially good parents. It can therefore be seen that the Australian Gold Lunar Year of the Mouse coin is an ideal gift for whoever you love or respect, since giving a Gold Lunar coin means that you are showing affection by immortalising the person’s year of birth and particular virtues in pure and precious golden artwork.

Australian Lunar Year of the Mouse coins – as rare as gold 

The Perth Mint introduced Australian Lunar Year of the Mouse gold coins for the first time in 1996 and subsequently issued the coins again in 2008. The next issue of the Year of the Mouse will only become available in 2020, when the mouse, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, will once again seek out new opportunities. In 1996 the gold coin was offered in 1 oz, ¼ oz, 1/10 oz and 1/20 oz weights, while the 2008 issue added four new weights: 10 kg, 1 kg, 10 oz, and 2 oz. The one-ounce mintage in 1996 was 16,593 gold coins while in 2008 the issue was sold out, reaching the maximum mintage limit of 30,000 gold coins. If the mintage of all Year of the Mouse gold coins is included, then the total figure rises to 80,252 gold pieces. This is an extremely low figure compared with the mintage of other well-known investment bullion coins. For example, the Australian Kangaroo one-ounce gold coin reaches the corresponding cumulative mintage figure of the Year of the Mouse Gold Series every four months. Australian Lunar Year of the Mouse gold bullion coins are thus well suited for collectors since they are naturally as rare as gold.

Australian Lunar gold coins are based on the Chinese Lunar Zodiac  

It is believed that the Chinese lunar calendar was created almost five millennia ago by primeval ruling dynasties. Since that time, the calendar has been continuously improved by astronomers of different royal Chinese courts, culminating in a final version that was calculated according to the earth’s movement around the sun, but fitted into a lunar calendar, thus making it officially a lunisolar calendar. The decision to base the calendar on two celestial bodies stems from the fact that the moon’s motion around the earth is not in synchronisation with the earth’s motion around the sun, creating a time disparity which created a problem for farmers who, of course, needed an accurate calendar that would tell them the best time for planting and harvesting in accordance with the sun’s movement. Originally, the calendar was based on the cycles of the moon, as it was much easier for the ancient astronomers to make the necessary calculation. But, as time passed, they noticed the disparity between the lunar year which consisted of twelve months, each month consisting of 29.5 days which totalled 354 days in a year, and the solar year, which numbered a total of 365.24 days, thus making the lunar year 11 days shorter than the earth’s yearly orbit around the sun. To better synchronise the lunar calendar with the sun, a leap month was added every two or three years similar to that of the modern solar calendar where nearly every 4 years on February 29 an extra leap day is added to align the earth’s revolution around the sun.  

In contrast to most other calendars, the Chinese lunar calendar does not count years in an infinite sequence, but is instead composed of  a 12 year period that is repeated five times in order to get to a cycle that is equal to 60 years. Each year of the period consists of two components, a heavenly stem and a terrestrial branch. The heavenly stem consists of ten symbols, which were the names of the ten days in the week used by the ancient Chinese, while the terrestrial branch consists of 12 animals from the Chinese zodiac cycle. For the creation of one year, each stem is combined with every second terrestrial branch. Thus, when all possible combinations between the heavenly stems and terrestrial branches have been made, this being equal to 60, the final cycle is created and subsequently it starts over once again. This method of cyclical dating is believed to be among the longest continuous sequences of time measurement in history. China today uses the Gregorian calendar, a solar calendar, for all civil purposes, but the lunar calendar is still the main calendar used by various communities in China and East Asia to determine celebrity dates such as jubilees, weddings, the Chinese New Year and other festivities.

Lunar Series I

All the gold coins of the 12-coin series have been minted. This cycle of the Lunar Calendar began with the Year of the Rat in 1996 and concludes in 2007 with the Year of the Pig. All coins in the Lunar Series are legal tender Australian coins.

Until 1999, Lunars were produced in four sizes – 1/20 oz, 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz and 1 oz. Since 2000, 2 oz, 10 oz and 1 kg coins were added to the range, and in 2004, a 1/2 oz gold coin joined the family.

The Perth Mint is a world distinguished mint and precious metals refiner that is located in the City of Perth, in Western Australia. The Perth Mint was founded in 1896 by Britain’s Royal Mint in response to the newly discovered gold deposits in Western Australia. Perth Mint’s task was to refine gold ore from the mines and to strike sovereign gold coins from the refined bullion. Between 1899 and 1931 the Pert Mint produced  a considerable amount of gold sovereigns which were disturbed in Australia  and throughout the British Empire to be used as circulating currency. British control over Perth Mint was relinquished in 1971 to the Government of Western Australia which then assumed ownership of  the  mint.  Today,  the  Perth  Mint  is  hailed  for  the exceptional  quality  of  its  world  class investment bullion coins like the Kookaburra and Koala silver coins, and the Lunar Series. The Perth Mint has been a member of the London Gold Market (predecessor of the LBMA) since 1934. The swan design, which is the Mint’s official assay stamp registered with the LBMA, is recognised internationally and was inspired by the Mint’s location in Perth, where the main river, the Swan, runs through the city.