World Coins

Australia marks Remembrance Day with orange sunset on coin

A 2015 circulating $2 coin from Australia celebrates the centennial of Lt. Col. John McCae’s In Flanders Field poem with a colorful orange sunset.

Images courtesy of the Royal Australian Mint.

The Royal Australian Mint celebrates Remembrance Day with a new colorful circulating $2 coin.

The RAM announced the new coin on Oct. 21, the same day it began delivering the coin to banks.

The coin highlights the centennial of the famous wartime poem “In Flanders Field,” which was written by Lt. Col. John McCrae after witnessing a battlefield of fallen soldiers. The orange color on the coin recalls the “saw sunset glow” line from the poem.

A total of 2 million of the 2015 $2 colored circulating Remembrance Day coin are being produced and will allow many Australians to share the meaning behind Remembrance Day and the memorable poem. Though already released, the RAM noted that it can take weeks or even months for the coin to begin circulating in all areas of the nation.

The coin features an inscription of text from the “In Flanders Fields” poem as well as sculptured larks surrounding the soft orange colored rings reminiscent of the sunset glow cited in the poem.

Royal Australian Mint CEO Ross MacDiarmid said that the demand for a red-colored circulating Poppy $2 coin in April forced the Mint to create some additional programs to help ensure the new $2 coin is accessible in a number of different ways.

For a limited time, the public will be able to buy a pack of five circulating Remembrance Day $2 coins at face value ($10) plus postage and handling online at the RAM’s electronic shop.

A collectible version in special themed packaging is also available for $12.50.

The colorful $2 coin follows the release of the red 2015 Poppy $2 coin. The orange Remembrance $2 coin is the third colorful $2 coin issued for Remembrance Day, after the red 2012 Poppy $2 coin (the RAM’s first colorful circulating coin) and a green 2014 $2 Remembrance Day coin.
Australia’s other colorful circulating $2 coin, bearing purple, was issued in 2013 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.


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