Australian twenty-cent coin Australian twenty-cent coin The Australian twenty-cent coin of the Australian decimal currency system was issued with conversion to decimal currency on 14 February 1966, replacing the florin which was worth two shillings – a tenth of a pound. (The Australian pound was converted to two Australian dollars.) To date, three different obverse face designs have been used: from 1966 to 1984, the head of Queen Elizabeth II by Arnold Machin; from 1985 to 1998, the head by Raphael Maklouf; and since 1999, the head by Ian Rank-Broadley. The obverse has the inscription AUSTRALIA and the year-of-issue on the right hand
Twopence (British pre-decimal coin) silver coin being minted. To thwart the further issuance of private token coinage, in 1817 an Act of Parliament was passed which forbade the manufacture of private token coinage under very severe penalties. A short-lived twopence denomination in silver was also produced, with circulation issues in 1817, 1818 and 1820, after which silver twopence were only issued as Maundy money. In 1857, a survey by the Royal Mint found that around one-third of all copper coinage was worn or mutilated, often by advertisements. A couple of years later Thomas Graham, the Master of the Mint, convinced William Ewart Gladstone, then