Rainbow Lorikeet 1 Oz Silver Proof $1 Niue 2024
 
Is the 4th release from the John Gould's Birds of Australia Program, also includ:
Eastern Rosella Parrot
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
Black Swan
Rainbow Lorikeet
 
Australia's most colorful bird, the Rainbow Lorikeet, finally makes its appearance on this extremely low mintage (just 750), one troy ounce pure silver proof. Don't miss out, make this vibrantly hued numismatic treasure yours today!

Who doesn't love a rainbow? Or in this case, a rainbow lorikeet? Or even a pair of these beauteous, miniature parrots, front and center on this one troy ounce pure silver dollar. The Rainbow Lorikeet is the fourth entry in the popular John Gould's Birds of Australia Program, hot on the wings of the Black Swan, Major Mitchell's Cockatoo and the Eastern Rosella Parrot. Not surprisingly, all three previous eye-catching avians from the Land Down Under sold out quickly at the mint. No wonder, with a tiny mintage of just 750 coins each!
 
What's a lorikeet?
Well, like a parakeet, it's just a small parrot. The Rainbow Lorikeet is native to eastern Australia, but has been introduced to Western Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. Rainbow lorikeets are social, active and noisy birds. They typically travel in mated pairs, but occasionally will respond to calls to fly as a flock, then disperse again into pairs.

Faithfully reproducing the sublime artwork from Gould’s masterpiece, this sumptuous silver proof celebrates what one of Australia's leading ornithologists call "the Southern Hemisphere's most colorful bird". This beauty presents Gould’s illustration of a lorikeet couple in a new format, fully displaying the birds' vibrant plumage. Utilizing cutting edge digital color minting technology, the Rainbow Lorikeet’s radiant blue, green, yellow, and orange feathers are shown off to full effect.
 
he JG privy mark confirms that the design has been adapted directly from John Gould's The Birds of Australia, the seminal masterwork that ranks with John James Audubon's The Birds of America in its importance and groundbreaking brilliance. Please read the presentation below for more about John Gould, known as the father of Australian ornithology, and his exquisitely decorated masterpiece, The Birds of Australia, the first comprehensive tome on Aussie bird life.
 
John Gould and The Birds of Australia
John Gould FRS was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, artist Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists.

In 1838 John Gould and his wife Elizabeth, a talented painter and illustrator, sailed to Australia from England, intending to study the birds of that country and be the first to produce a major work on the subject. Collector John Gilbert accompanied them; they collected many bird specimens, then returned home to England in May 1840. Shortly after their return to England, Elizabeth Gould died in 1841. She completed 84 plates for Birds of Australia before her untimely death at the age of just 37.

The result of the Goulds’ trip was the seminal The Birds of Australia (1840–48), a seven volume work which is the first comprehensive illustrated account of Australian birds. It included a total of 600 plates; 328 of the species described were new to science and named by Gould. He also published A Monograph of the Macropodidae, or Family of Kangaroos (1841–1842) and the three-volume work The Mammals of Australia (1849–1861).

John Gould is considered a naturalist on the order of the American John James Audubon, similarly famous for his illustrated works on a newly-settled continent’s birds. The Birds of Australia was issued by subscription; in all there were 250 subscribers, so 250 sets of the seven-volume work were printed. Today, complete sets of original volumes have sold at auction for more than USD 200,000! The collection was published in a folio format that measures about 23 inches (57 cm) in height. Of the original 250 sets, 175 are accounted for in institutional collections. The remaining 75 are either in private hands; have been broken up to be sold as individual prints; or have been lost to history.