Perth Mint, Heritage mint in Perth, Australia
Perth Mint is a mint in the City of Perth and City of Belmont in Australia, housed in a limestone building with copper domes that contains vaults and production halls for investment coins. The building also includes exhibition rooms where historical coin collections and gold bars of different sizes are displayed.
The Royal Mint of London opened here in 1899 as one of three branches on Australian soil to process regional gold finds and turn them into coins. Later the government of Western Australia took over the facility and has been running it as a state institution ever since.
The name recalls the era when the facility belonged to the British Royal Mint and produced gold coins for southern Pacific ports. Visitors today still see the original forge workshops where craftsmen pour molten gold into bars using traditional methods in front of an audience.
The retail area opens during business hours and allows direct purchase of investment products in gold, silver and platinum without prior booking. Guided tours through the production areas run at set times and show machinery and workflows not normally accessible.
Here in 2011 a gold coin weighing 1012 kilograms with a face value of one million Australian dollars was made, still considered one of the heaviest coins in the world. The piece required over 18 months of work and shows a kangaroo on one side.
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