Australian fifty-cent coin

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Australian fifty-cent coin" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Fifty cents

Australia
Value	0.50 AUD
Mass	15.55 g
Diameter	31.65 (across flats[1]) mm
Thickness	2.80 mm (maximum)[2]
Edge	Plain
Shape	Dodecagonal
Composition	75% copper, 25% nickel
Years of minting	1969–present
Catalog number	—
Obverse
Design	Queen Elizabeth II (1969–2023) King Charles III (2024–present)
Designer	Various (1969–2023) Dan Thorne (2024–present)[3]
Design date	2024
Reverse
Design	Australian coat of arms
Designer	Stuart Devlin
Design date	1965

The twelve-sided Australian fifty-cent coin is the third-highest denomination coin of the Australian dollar and the largest in terms of size in circulation. It is equal in size and shape to the Cook Island $5 coin, and both remain the only 12-sided coins in the southern hemisphere. It was introduced in 1969^[4] to replace the round fifty-cent coin issued in 1966.

The original, round, 50-cent coin was made of 80% silver and 20% copper; but as the value of a free-floating silver price became higher, the coin's bullion value became more valuable than its face value; so that version was withdrawn from circulation and replaced with the dodecagonal cupro-nickel version.

It is by diameter the largest Australian coin currently issued and second largest after the Crown of 1937–38. It is also the heaviest Australian coin in common circulation. Many commemorative designs have been issued, the large size allowing for detailed content.

With a diameter of 31.65 millimetres (1.246 in) across flats,^[1] the 50-cent coin is one of the largest in volume among those currently circulating in the world. One coin of larger diameter is the Costa Rican five-hundred-colón (32.9 millimetres (1.30 in)); the larger ^[5] fifty-franc (CFP) (32.9 millimetres (1.30 in)) discontinued in January 2023 by the smaller F 50 (24.0 millimetres (0.94 in)).

The 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, year dated 50¢ are only available in mint and proof sets, with the exception of the 1967 and 1968, as no mint/proof sets exist for those years and there were no circulation strikes produced either.

Fifty-cent coins are legal tender for amounts not exceeding $5 for any payment of a debt.^[6]