Cheapest Australian Gold Lunar
The Australian Gold Lunar is the Perth Mint's annual zodiac series, struck in .9999 fine gold since 1996. You get a new animal design every year, twelve in a cycle, so the coin you buy in the Year of the Dragon will not be the coin minted next year. That scarcity-by-design is the whole reason collectors track this series. If you just want bullion exposure, an Eagle or Maple is cheaper, but the Lunar gives you something an Eagle never will: a date and design that stops minting and never comes back.
What is the cheapest Australian Gold Lunar right now?
The lowest-premium Australian Gold Lunar listing across our tracked dealers appears at the top of the grid above. Premiums are recalculated against live spot every hour.
What is the Australian Gold Lunar series?
Australian Gold Lunar. Struck by the Perth Mint since 1996, .9999 fine, with a new Chinese zodiac animal on the reverse every year. The reverse changes annually. The obverse carries the standard effigy of the British monarch, since Australia is a Commonwealth realm.
The series runs in twelve-year cycles matching the lunar calendar. Series I covered 1996 to 2007. Series II ran 2008 to 2019. Series III began in 2020. Each series is a fresh artistic take, not a reissue, so a Series I Dragon and a Series II Dragon are visually distinct coins from the same mint.
We currently track the Lunar across five sizes: 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, 1 oz, and 2 oz. The 1 oz is the most liquid. check dealer is the lowest dealer price we are seeing today across our tracked dealers.
How does the Lunar compare to the Australian Gold Kangaroo?
Both come from the Perth Mint. Both are .9999 fine. The Kangaroo is the workhorse bullion coin, with a refreshed reverse design each year but one continuous program. The Lunar is structured as a capped, twelve-year collectible arc.
That structural difference shows up in the premium. The Kangaroo typically trades closer to spot. The Lunar carries a higher premium because each year is its own coin with its own mintage cap. recent is the current premium over spot on the 1 oz Lunar.
If your goal is maximum gold per dollar, the Kangaroo wins. If you want a coin that can appreciate beyond its melt value because of design and scarcity, the Lunar is the more interesting choice.
Should you buy fractional Lunars or the 1 oz?
Fractionals (1/10, 1/4, 1/2 oz) carry a higher premium per gram than the 1 oz. That is true of most bullion programs. With the Lunar specifically, fractionals also tend to have lower mintage caps, which can mean stronger secondary-market support for popular zodiac years.
The 1 oz is the most liquid and the easiest to sell. If you are stacking and not collecting, stick with 1 oz. If you are building a zodiac year-set, fractionals let you participate at a lower per-coin cost, and you may capture more upside on a Dragon or a Tiger.
The 2 oz exists but is thinly distributed. We currently track it at one dealer, so price discovery is limited.
How do dealer prices on the Lunar typically vary?
The Lunar shows wider dealer-to-dealer spreads than commodity coins like the Eagle or Maple. That is partly because each year is a different SKU and dealers stock different years. One dealer might have the current Year of the Snake in stock cheap, while another has a back-year Tiger marked up because of collector demand.
We currently track the 1 oz Lunar across five dealers, the 1/2 oz and 1/4 oz across four each, and the 1/10 oz across four. Coverage on the 2 oz is thin at one dealer.
Will the Lunar hold its premium on resale?
It depends on the year and the size. Popular zodiac years (Dragon, Tiger, Ox, Rabbit in some markets) tend to hold premium better than less-favored years. Older Series I coins in original Perth Mint capsules can command meaningful collector premiums, particularly in the lower-mintage fractional sizes.
Less popular years and the current-year coin tend to trade closer to a standard bullion premium, since the supply is fresh and the collector chase has not yet kicked in. If you are buying for resale, the math is simple: buy the year you think will become scarce, in original packaging, and hold.
If you are buying for the gold and the design is just a bonus, accept that the Lunar premium is a tax for the artwork. You are not guaranteed to recover it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What purity is the Australian Gold Lunar?
The Australian Gold Lunar is .9999 fine gold, sometimes called four-nines fine. That is the same purity as the Perth Mint Kangaroo and the Canadian Maple Leaf, and higher than the .9167 American Gold Eagle.
How many sizes does the Lunar come in?
We track five common bullion sizes: 1/10 oz, 1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, 1 oz, and 2 oz. The Perth Mint also strikes larger commemorative sizes (10 oz, 1 kg, and occasionally bigger) but those are special-order and rarely appear at major bullion dealers.
Why does the design change every year?
The Lunar series follows the twelve-animal Chinese zodiac cycle. Each year features a new animal, and once the year ends, that design is retired. The whole twelve-year cycle is one series, after which the Perth Mint launches a new series with fresh artistic interpretations.
Should you buy the current year or back-year Lunars?
Current-year coins are widely available at standard bullion premiums. Back-year coins, especially popular zodiac years in original Perth Mint capsules, can carry collector premiums but may also be harder to find at the lowest price. For pure stacking, the current year is usually the cheapest entry point.
Is the Australian Gold Lunar legal tender?
Yes. The Lunar carries an Australian face value, denominated in dollars, but the face value is symbolic and far below the coin's gold content. Legal-tender status mostly matters for tax treatment in some jurisdictions and for the coin's recognition at customs.