On the reverse is a portrait of the Queen

The Perth Mint in Australia authorized a maximum mintage of 30,000 pieces on each of these 1-ounce Lunar gold coins, but that limit wasn't achieved in all years. The smallest mintage was the 1997 Ox, at only 13,709 pieces, which limits the number of complete sets possible. Other of the early issues from the 1990s had similar mintages. See the final mintages here.

We began selling the Perth Mint Lunar Series I coins about ten years ago, first as individual issues and, in 2007, as complete sets. During the last couple of years, we have had full sets to offer only every once in a while, and they generally don’t last long when available.

Series II began in 2008 with the Year of the Mouse, and we currently sell the three coins released so far in that series. See the Series II coins here.

The second series is also a limited mintage issue, with no more than 30,000 of each being struck by Perth Mint. Most likely, interest in the second series will grow as we get closer to the release of the 2012 Year of the Dragon issue in late 2011.