Sturts Desert Pea

This one hundred Dollar gold proof coin issued in 1998 was the fourth to be released from a series of nine entitled Floral Emblems of Australia . The set was released between the years of 1995 and 2003 with a coin featuring the floral emblem of each state as well as the Commonwealth, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. This particular coin features Sturts Desert Pea, which is the floral emblem of South Australia. Each emblem of the entire series is represented on three different coins. The first is a $150 half Troy ounce proof coin and the remaining two are both $100 one-third Troy ounce proof coins, one of which is an uncirculated version. (Royal Australian Mint, 2002) With regards to the $100 coins there was a limited mintage of 2500 for the standard proof and 3000 for the uncirculated proof. Credit for the design of the reverse of this coin goes to Horst Hahne.

The design is very simple and features Sturts Desert Pea, which takes up the majority of the space. The legend 100 DOLLARS is curved beneath the flower following the shape of the coin. The obverse features the Raphael Maklouf portrait of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and is surrounded by the legend that reads ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 1998 . The $100 coins were issued in a plush burgundy presentation case and accompanying it was a Certificate of Authenticity and booklet of information pertaining to the different floral emblems. The outer box was also a burgundy colour and features the text FLORAL EMBLEMS OF AUSTRALIA written above a picture of the flower represented within. Below was written 1998 $100 GOLD UNCIRCULATED or PROOF accordingly.

Sturts Desert Pea, known by some scientifically as swainsona formosa was named after a man called Isaac Swainson, who was an English botanist. The more common name of sturts Desert Pea is in honour of the explorer Charles Sturt whose diaries of exploration around central Australia frequently mentions his sightings of the flower. (Wikipedia, 2013) It has very distinctive, bright red leaves with a bulbous black centre and is one of the more famous of Australia's wildflowers. It thrives in arid regions including central, north western and South Australia. It's striking appearance has made it a regular subject of artwork, aboriginal legend and even prose and in 1961 it became the floral emblem of South Australia.