Bimetallic Gold & Platinum Coins
When most coin collectors think of bimetallic coins, it is of course bimetallic coins out of gold and silver that come to mind first. However, that is not the only precious metal combination that can be found in a bimetallic coin. One other existing type of bimetallic precious metal coins are bimetallic gold & platinum coins that have so far been issued by two of the world’s major government mints. the US Mint as well as Australia’s Perth Mint.
The US Mint’s first-ever bimetallic gold & platinum coins were already issued back in the year 2000. These $10 coins that have an outer ring of 90% pure gold and an inner center of 99.95% pure platinum have come to be known as the Library of Congress bimetallic Eagles. That is because the coins were designed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the American Library of Congress whose historic Thomas Jefferson Building can be partially seen in the background on the obverse side of the coins. The Library of Congress seal appears on the reverse side of the limited-mintage coins that had been produced at the West Point branch of the US Mint as both uncirculated (mintage of 7,261 coins) and proof coins (mintage of 27,445 coins).
obverse side of the Library of Congress bimetallic gold & platinum coins that the US Mint issued in 2000
Australia’s Perth Mint then issued its first bimetallic gold & platinum coins in 2018. These collectible proof coins feature a 99.99% pure 0.75 oz gold core and a 99.95% pure 0.75 oz platinum outer ring. The coins are a part of the Wedge-Tailed Eagle coin series that already started back in 2014 and that is mostly made up of silver coins. The 2018 bimetallic gold & platinum Wedge-Tailed Eagle proof issue was then followed up with further such Wedge-Tailed Eagle bimetallic gold & platinum proof coin issues in 2019 and 2020. Even though the eagle design on the reverse side of these three different coins is different, they all have the same denomination of 150 AUD and maximum mintage of 150 pieces per issue. Unsurprisingly, all three of these collectible gold & platinum bimetallic issues sold out very rapidly.
