2001 Perth Mint Gold Snakes

Year 2001 Gold Snakes are the sixth coin in The Perth Mint Australian Lunar Series, which has become immensely popular with coin collectors. All the gold coins in the Australian Lunar Series are .9999 fine (24-karat) gold, and each coin comes individually encapsulated in plastic protective capsules. Without a doubt, MAustralian Lunar Series collector coins are some of the most sought after coins produced in many years.

Australian Lunar Series coins were minted to coincide with the Chinese Lunar Calendar for the years 1996 – 2007. The Series started with Year of the Rat in 1996 and ended in 2007 with Year of the Pig.

Australian Lunar Series: limited production coins

The 1-oz Australian Lunar Series coins were limited production coins with a production cap of 30,000 coins. The 1-oz Gold Snakes became the third coin in the Australian Lunar Series to reach the production cap. The year 2000 1-oz Gold Dragon was the first to hit the production cap, and the year 2002 Gold Horse the second.

However, before any of the other nine 1-oz Lunar Series gold coins reached the production cap, The Perth Mint closed the Series because of the need to reduce the number of coins that it minted. The Mint turns out thousands of coins, which creates a huge inventory challenge. The Australian Lunar Series, gold and silver, totals somewhere near one hundred coins.

Because of the closing, the other nine 1-oz gold coins in the Australian Lunar Series fell short of the production cap. The 1997 Ox was the lowest mintage year of the 1-oz gold coins, with 13,709 being produced, less than half the 30,000 1-oz Gold Snakes that were minted.

Australian Lunar Series: now collector coins

Coin collectors wanting to add 1-oz Gold Snake, or any of the other Australian Lunar Series coins to their collections will have to pay bigger premiums than the premiums on standard bullion coins, such as the American Eagle Gold Coins and the Krugerrands.

While 30,000 coins may sound like a lot coins, that is not the case in the collector world, especially when the theme is the Lunar Calendar, which is popular with millions of people around the world. The 1-oz Gold Dragon is the key coin in the Australian Lunar Series and is likely to remain so.

For a further discussion of the Australian Lunar Series, read our Australian Lunar Series Overview.

Besides 2001, other Snake years include 1989, 1977, 1965, 1953, 1941, 1929, 1917, and 1905.

If you would like to discuss investing in Gold Snakes or the other Australian Lunar Series coins, call us at 1-800-528-1380 and asked for our Lunar Series specialist. We take calls 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., MST, Mondays through Fridays.