Review & Giveaway: Australia’s Great White Shark Silver 1/2 oz Coin!
If you’ve enjoyed being teased by Apmex lately, your wait is over. The 1/2 oz silver Great White Shark Coin from the Perth Mint is finally here!! Woohoo! Party time! The crowd goes wild!! And I’ve gotta say – it’s a pretty slick looking coin too. Y’all know I’m normally an older type coin collector, but this bad boy’s got me singing a new tune today. Just look at that thing! It has a freakin’ SHARK on the reverse! 
We’ll be giving away one of these fresh looking coins in a hot second to one of y’all too :) Courtesy of our good friends at Apmex.com who has these exclusively right now, and was kind enough to allow our humble little site to celebrate with them today. They even mailed me a sneak peak to show off to y’all as shown above – thx guys! Before we get to this killer giveaway though (you see what I did there? “Killer”? Cuz it’s a *shark*?? Sigh…), here’ a quick review on the coin from an award-winning connoisseur: Me. Awards of awesomeness, of course…
Stuff I love about this shark coin:
- It’s made of 99.9% pure silver!
- It’s legal Australian tender (50 cents)
- It’s BOLD looking on one side, and classy on the other
- It’s unique (can’t say I’ve ever seen, or held, a coin w/ a great white shark on it before??)
- It makes for an awesome addition to a collection. Without breaking the budget.
Stuff I don’t like about this silver coin:
- It’s not made of gold
- It’s not from the 1800s
- I only have one of them ;)
So basically 4 stars all around, haha… I seriously couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Even the reeded edges I loved! So crisp! (Or maybe I’m just used to holding old rubbed 200 year coins?) Here’s a better close up of the obverse: 
It measures 32.00 mm in diameter, 3.10 mm in thickness, and has a gross weight of 15.591 grams. And as you can see, features a detailed great white shark with silhouettes in the background, as well as the Perth Mint’s traditional ‘P’ mint mark and coin specifications. While the obverse bears the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as well as the 50 cents monetary denomination and the 2014 year date. (As shown in the pic up above I shot)
Want one? Here’s how to enter our giveaway.
We’ll keep this one nice and easy for y’all. To enter for a chance to win this Australian 1/2 oz silver coin (worth at least $10 in bullion right now, not including collector premium!), answer this simple question down below in the comments:
What’s your favorite coin?
It can be one from your own collection, one from your wish list, one you found at Apmex.com, wherever. Just tell us in the comments below by Sunday April 6th at midnight, and you’ll be entered to win. We’ll use random.org to randomly select the winner shortly thereafter. Good luck! And when you’re done, head over to my boy Len’s shark coin giveaway for another awesome chance to win. Double your odds!
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About The Author
Jay
I love coins, beer, and my kids. Not particularly in that order :) You can check out all of my online projects here: jmoney.biz.
My favorite coin is from the Canadian Mint and it’s A Story of the Northern Lights: the Great Hare. Its beautiful and depicts a hare looking on a sky filled with northern lights. Reminds me of our time up north and even one of our children was born there.
My favorite are wheat pennies because they reminded me of the first time I saw a coin that was “different” from the others in circulation. I think the coolest looking ones are the pennies made during WW2 that had no copper in them, it’s like a black & white penny.
It’s made of steel, Jim. The US Mint only made them from steel during 1943 due to war time shortages of copper (war efforts sucked it all up for ammo, electrical wiring, instruments, etc.). More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_steel_cent
I like Jim’s “black and white” idea better ;) Totally using that at my next coin club meeting! (Yes, I’m a member of a coin club, suck it)
My favorite coin is probably the bicentennial quarters with the drummer on the back. I loved finding them as a kid!
I continue to remain fascinated with CC Morgan’s.
Definitely going with this smoking MS 1892 Barber quarter I picked up a couple weeks ago. It has some really amazing toning going on. Going to have to get a pic of it up on my blog sometime.
Awesome! Slowly becoming a fan of toned coins – makes ’em so much more unique and interesting looking :)
My favorite coin is probably the 5 cents French coin that I found in my garden when I was 10. The coin dates back to the second French empire and is made out of bronze. Even though it is not worth much on the market it means a lot to me because it was the first coin in my collection.
Very cool!!!
I have always loved coins. Indian Head Penny is my all time favorite. I will be following your site. Thanks, JB
Woohoo! Glad to hear it :) I’ll try and feature some Indian Heads on here then for ya.
It’s been 20+ years since I went through my coin collection, but my favorite either the 1882 Indian Head (maybe now they are called Native American Head) or the 1943 silver penny. Can’t go wrong with collecting pennies when you are little… fairly cheap.
I wonder if the term WILL ever change??
My favorite is a mercury dime, it is the first one my 4yr old and I found together and started our little collection. Now every time we get change we look to see if it’s silver or different and have found wheat pennies etc as well as junk silver and added that to our 1oz silver coins
That’s pretty cool! Those are pretty hard to find in pocket change :) And even better you’d collecting with your 4 y/o – so cute!
It would have to be the .50 Half Dollar Kennedy coin. The first time I saw it, I thought I struck gold as I thought it was rare and valuable. I learned quickly that it is not that rare. Still cool looking from my eyes.
If I had to pick one coin in a “gun to head” situation I would go with any of the Walking Liberty Half Dollars.
I wonder who’d be the one holding it to your head? Q. David Bowers? ;)
My favorite coin would be the 1898 dime I found in the water when fishing from shore at a nearby lake.
Awesome!!! Found coins are the best!
I really like the 2014 1 oz Silver Somalian African Elephant coin.
I have a Troy NY $.10 bill which is pretty cool. But my Gram gave me a Morgan dollar which makes it my favorite.
That is a pretty awesome design though on the new shark coin.
My favorite coin is the indian head penny.
The silver dollar. It reminds me of my father because he always had a little collection of them in his drawer. They seemed so huge and heavy to me.
I don’t currently own any special coins, so I would have to say any coinage that comes into my hands would be my favorite. I primarily own silver bars because they’re pretty cool looking. I do plan to extend my pm collection to include coins as well, but haven’t really gotten that far yet.
Jen
Silver bars are a good start :) Next up GOLD bars?? Mmmm….
My favorite coin is the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle gold coin.
you and me both :)
I’ve always liked the Buffalo nickel
My favorite coin is the Susan B. Anthony coin! It honors a great woman!
My new favorite is the curved US Baseball Hall of Fame coin :)
It is a pretty cool (and revolutionary!) one! I just wish we could touch and feel it instead of it being so protected in plastic like modern coins are these days :( Guess you could break the packaging open though, eh? :)
My favorite coin has to be the 1913 Liberty Head Nickel because it’s the first rare coin I ever heard of and it’s still awesome to fantasize about finding one! (Runner-up would be the 1943 copper penny and ditto about finding one;)
The 1999 Silver Eagle. I am a huge fan the old British Sci-fi TV Show Space 1999. I went to the convention in 1999 to the show, which as great. The ships they had on the show were Eagles, hence, a 1999 Eagle. Good show, lovely coin.
My favorite is the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle. Beautiful coin and I hope to own one (or several) eventually.
I’ve always liked Morgans, my first coin ever was a Morgan from my grandfather.
My favourite coin is the us gold eagle
My favorite is the Morgan Dollar.
Lame answer but I’m going to say the Minnesota quarter :0
Hah! It’s your world man ;)
My favorite coin is the mercury dime. Love to collect them.
My favorite coin is always the next one that I don’t have yet. Right now, it’s a late 1800’s Queen Victoria British Crown. The Pistrucci design on the reverse is a classic!
That’s a good way to look at it! And I agree – those crowns ARE freakin’ beautiful.
My current favorite is the one you mentioned in another post with Len Penzo – the Saint-Gaudens double eagle. That thing is beautiful. Of coins I actually own, I like the 1884 Morgan Silver Dollar, something about old coins and the history they have behind them.
I like old coins – as others have mentioned, holding one is like holding a tangible piece of history. I had a coin collection as a kid — mostly coins given to me from my mom when she was a kid (lots of old foreign coins), and some coins given to me by my grandfather who was a serious coin collector.
I haven’t bought many since then, but they are among my favorites. I bought them simply for historical value (to me) not for any future resale value. I bought both while I was living in England; they are a Roman coin dating from when England was a Roman territory (I had to Wikipedia that – so somewhere between the years 43-409 AD), and another British coin that dated from around the time of the American Revolution; I think it was from the 1770-1780 time frame. I think I paid around 15-20 quid for both, which was in the $23-35 range. I have no clue what they are worth now. I just think it’s cool to hold a piece of history. :)
Totally man! Always fun to imagine who held them over time, and what they were used to pay for, etc… Nice seeing ya here :)
I have a penny on my keychain that someone stamped a heart into. THAT’s my favorite coin.
Cute!
I am partial to the bicentennial quarter, but this shark coin could easily devour the competition
Oh man, this is a difficult decision! Ok, i gotta go with the newer Mexican Libertad. That thing is a beautiful coin, plus it’s cool that it comes in fractional sizes; you don’t often see that in silver bullion coins .
Agreed! I picked up a Mexican 1 Onza from the 80s just the other day :)
https://cointhrill.com/mexican-reale-onza-piastres/
That’s awesome!
My favorite coin to find was always the wheat penny as a kid.
My current favorite coin is the 1986 Singapore Tiger. I would love to have that coin because
A) It’s beautiful
B) It’s my birth year and zodiac animal.
Favorite coin will always be the Wheatie because it’s the first ‘non-standard’ coin introduced to me by my father. It’s when I learned the difference between coins as denomination and coins as individual timepieces.
I’d have to say my favorite coin is the “V” nickels.
Just love the Liberty Head.
My favorite coins are Mercury Dimes. My nephew and I collect them. We will go to the bank with a couple hundred dollars and just buy rolls of dimes (only from banks that verify that they haven’t already gone thru them). We will sit there for hours opening up rolls and searching and eventually re-wrapping them to put back into our bank accounts. Its like our own little version of gambling. Best case scenario = we find some really awesome coins from all over and fill some more of our books in. Worse case scenario = we spend a couple of hours together talking, laughing and rolling coins. I don’t get to see him very much anymore and we are really close, its nice to have those coins to remember those days by.
SUCH A GOOD IDEA!!! Nice and wholesome too – I’m surprised he doesn’t jump up and just want to play video games all the time like most kids too, haha…
He is definitely not your normal 16-year-old. Haha.
I actually ended up getting the shark coin for him (late birthday present), just in case I didn’t win.
I guess I would have to go with the Panda. I don’t have one but would like to get one.
My fav- 2001 Canada 3 cent coin. My husband is a bit of a coin junkie. Once he told his Dad he needed to have a serious talk with him and admitted to his Dad that he was seriously thinking of becoming a numismatist. His Dad thought it was some sort of offbeat religion/cult and was a little irritated with him. It was really, really funny.
What?? Haha… I take it he never went on to become a coin dealer? :)
Wheat pennies.
My favorite coin is my Constantine 1 The Great 337AD coin. Now that’s history!
Fav. coin is a toss up between two classic American standards: the Peace and the Morgan Silver Dollar coins. They both ooze nostalgia!
My favorite is the Kennedy silver half dollar. It is just clean and crisp…
My favorite coin is the Treasures of the World – Europe 2013 1oz Silver Proof Locket Coin with Garnet. The Garnet sets off the beauty of the Silver coin and makes for a unique viewing experience.
My favorite coin would be the Libertad. I mean she has wings come on!
Is it lame to say the Sacajawea dollar? It’s a great name…
I agree Laura, I have never collected coins, but we would always get the Sacajawea dollar as something special to place in a pastry our Mom would make for New Year’s Day. Whoever would find the coin, when everyone shared in the pastry on New Year’s day, would supposedly have good luck in the coming year.
That’s a cool tradition :) The only sacajawea I really like is THIS bad boy – an error that can fetch up to $250,000!:
http://www.coinnews.net/2010/09/10/2000-sacagawea-mule-coin-tops-us-mint-errors/
My favorite coin is the morgan dollar and close second is the mercury dimes.
I’d have to go with the walking liberty halves. By far the most beautiful US silver coin IMO.
My favorite coin is the wheat penny of any year. I just love those things.
My favorite coin is a 1913 wheat cent I got when I was a kid. It was the first time I noticed a coin existed years before my parents were born. It amazed me that the coin probably traveled hundreds of miles and went through thousands of hands.
Since then I became a collector for life.
Very cool to think about indeed! Makes our hobby that much more fun, huh?
I can dream right? My favorite coin is the U.S. Gold Double Eagle, Saint-Gaudens.
I buy exclusively from APMEX, I’m a gold member silver stacker and I primarily buy the generic APMEX silver coins and bullion bars, of every size I can get, I think they are all price excellent and from a reputable name.
Are you building a fort with it? :)
My favorite coin is the Colorado quarter. ;)
My favorite is my bronze shield 2-cent piece that my grandparents gave me as a kid when I started collecting.
Yes! Awesome! Just picked up my first 2 cent piece the other week:
https://cointhrill.com/my-2-cents-coin/
I am a big fan of Buffalo Nickel. I like Native American culture so it is nice to see something paying homage to it.
Sacajawea dollars because my grandma collects them – sentimental value!
Check out this one I just found at a yard sale :)
https://cointhrill.com/gold-plated-susan-b-anthony-dollar-yard-sale/
My favorite coin is the American Buffalo Nickel 1913-1938. I have quite a few in my collection but I mostly like it for the unique American history figures. They wear easily so when you find a good looking one it is quite a treasure.
I love the Canadian Gold Maple Leafs. Beautiful!!!
***GIVEAWAY OVER***
Big congrats to May from MessyMoney.com for winning! We’ll get the coin out to you soon!
Thanks to everyone else who participated, and to Apmex.com for partnering with us this round.
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