2026 $1 Origins Of Australian Coin - Holey Dollar Uncirculated Coin

The Royal Australian Mint is proud to present this 2026 $1 'Holey Dollar' Uncirculated Coin that celebrates a little-known link between the origins of Australia's iconic holey dollar and dump coins and significant contemporary diplomatic anniversary.                                      

In 2026, Australia and Mexico celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations- a partnership built on cooperation, culture and shared outlooks. Yet the connection between these two nations reaches back far deeper in time. More than 150 years earlier, Spanish silver dollars struck in colonial Mexican mints travelled vast ocean trade to the fledging colony of
New South Wales. Faced with a critical shortage of currency, Governor Lachlan Macquarie authorised their transformation into Australia's first distinctive coins: the Holey Dollar and Dump. By punching cut their centres, these global coins were ingeniously remade to serve a new economy.                                   

Today, this remarkable story of adaptation and exchange highlights an enduring link between Australia and Mexico -one forged not only through diplomacy, but through shared history, resourcefulness and the enduring legacy of our coin origins.

KEY FEATURES

• The coin features the iconic 'holey dollar' shape
• The coin's reverse features a stunning recreation of the reverse of the 1823 holey dollar held in the National Coin Collection, along with an 1813 dump and floral symbols of golden wattle for Australia and dahlia for Mexico
• The coin's obverse features a detailed recreation of the same 1813 holey dollars obverse along with the effigy of His Majesty King Charles III sculpted by Daniel Thorne
• Blistered coin in a presentation card
• Ausralian legal tender