The Australian ten-cent coin is a coin of the decimal

Australian dollar The Australian dollar (currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: AUD; also abbreviated A$ or sometimes AU$ to distinguish it from other dollar, dollar-denominated currencies; and also referred to as the dollar or Aussie dollar) is the official ...

. When the dollar was introduced as half of an

Australian pound The pound (sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings (denoted by the symbol s o ...

on 14 February 1966, the coin inherited the specifications of the pre-decimal

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

; both coins were worth one twentieth of a pound and were called "bob". On introduction it was the fourth-lowest denomination coin. Since the withdrawal from circulation of the one and two cent coins in 1992, it has been the second-lowest denomination coin in circulation. For the first year of minting (1966), 30 million coins were produced at the British

Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly ow ...

(then in London), and 11 million at the Royal Australian Mint in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. Since then, all coins have been produced in Canberra, with the exception of 1981 when 40 million coins from the Royal Mint's new headquarters in

Llantrisant Llantrisant (; "Parish of the Three Saints") is a town and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, on the River Ely and the Afon Clun. The three saints of the t ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

supplemented the 76.1 million produced in Canberra. Years without issue for the 10c, were 1986, 1987, 1995 and 1996. Those years were only for mint and proof sets. The lowest mintage was in 2011, when 1.7 million coins were issued. There has been one commemorative issue for this denomination, the 50th anniversary of decimal currency in 2016. The image of a male superb lyrebird ''(Menura novaehollandiae)'' is displayed on the reverse of all ten-cent coin. It was designed by

Stuart Devlin Stuart Leslie Devlin (9 October 1931 – 12 April 2018) was an Australian artist and metalworker who specialised in gold and silver. He designed coins for countries around the world, and became especially well known as London-based design ...

, who designed the reverses of all of the coins of the Australian dollar introduced in 1966. The obverse has displayed different designs featuring the head of

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

Queen of Australia The monarchy of Australia is a key component of Australia's form of government, by which a hereditary monarch serves as the country's sovereign and head of state. It is a constitutional monarchy, modelled on the Westminster system of parli ...

: from 1966 to 1984, the head by

Arnold Machin Arnold Machin OBE RA FRSS (; 30 September 1911 – 9 March 1999) was a British artist, sculptor, and coin and postage stamp designer. Biography Machin was born Stoke-on-Trent in 1911. He started work at the age of 14 as an apprentice china ...

; from 1985 to 1998, the head by

Raphael Maklouf Raphael David Maklouf (born 10 December 1937) is a British sculptor, best known for designing an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II used on the coins of many Commonwealth nations. Maklouf was born in Jerusalem, to a Jewish family; his father was Sa ...

; from 1999 to 2015, and 2017, the head by

Ian Rank-Broadley Ian Rank-Broadley Royal British Society of Sculptors, FRBS (born 1952) is a British sculpture, sculptor who has produced many acclaimed works, among which are several designs for British coinage and the Statue of Diana, Princess of Wales, memor ...

and since 2019, the head by Jody Clark. The obverse of these coins has the inscription AUSTRALIA and the year-of-issue on the right hand side, and ELIZABETH II on the left hand side. In 2016, (the 50th anniversary of decimal currency), the obverse was designed by G. K. Gray. 2016 obverse design to celebrate the 50th anniversary of decimal currency As of 2022, the production cost of a 10c coin was confirmed as being more than the face-value of the coin by the Royal Australian Mint's CEO. 10c coins are legal tender for amounts not exceeding $5 for any payment of a debt.

References

External links

Australian Decimal Currency
www.australianstamp.com
10 cents
museumvictoria.com.au {{Australian currency Decimal coins of Australia

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...