The “Sovereign of the Sky” is immortalized by the skilled artistry of John Gould. This is the lowest mintage one ounce silver Wedge-Tailed Eagle coin ever! Don’t miss out, make this noble eagle yours today! The Wedge-Tailed Eagle is well known as the largest predatory raptor in Australian skies. This superb wedgie is the sixth entry in the extremely popular. John Gould’s Birds of Australia Program. Hot on the wings of the Rainbow Lorikeet. Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo. And the Kookaburra Trio. No wonder, with a tiny mintage of just 750 coins each! We expect this eagle to. Off the shelf as well (sorry, we had to). We can’t stress immediate action strongly enough! The Perth Mint’s Wedge-Tailed Eagle silver coins are well known, well loved, and, frankly, hoarded by collectors across the globe. This is the lowest mintage one troy ounce Wedge-Tailed Eagle pure silver coin ever issued! If you know a lower mintage one, please clue us in! And if the tiny mintage of 750 wasn’t enough, look at that design! An adult wedgie, in all his colorful glory, dominates the scene while scanning his territory from a tree branch, while three of his comrades soar nearby, earning the nickname Sovereign of the Sky. With its extremely limited. Mintage of just 750. Don’t delay-make this beautiful bird yours today! All five previous releases in the. This 6th release in the series is the one of the most popular predatory birds in the world-better get yours today! A Realistic Reproduction of John Gould’s Original Illustration. Faithfully reproducing the sublime artwork from Gould’s masterpiece, this sumptuous silver proof celebrates what is indubitably Australia’s best known and most popular raptor, the Wedge-Tailed Eagle. This beauty presents Gould’s illustration of a wedgie in a new format, fully displaying this big boy’s sumptuous plumage and noble bearing. Utilizing cutting edge digital color minting technology, the eagle’s warm, rich feathers are shown off to full effect. More about this famous avian in the article below. The 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 first comprehensive tome on Aussie bird life. The Wedge-Tailed Eagle is the largest bird of prey native to Australia. Female Wedge-Tailed Eagles weigh between 7 and 12 pounds, while the smaller males weigh between 5 and 9 pounds. The largest wingspan ever verified for any eagle worldwide was for this species-a female killed in Tasmania in 1931 had a wingspan of 9.3 ft (2.84 m), while another female measured barely smaller at 9.1 ft (2.79 m). Despite its great size and wingspan, this powerful but slenderly built avian usually weighs less than a couple of other species of large eagle. The Wedge-Tailed Eagle nests in a range of old-growth native forests. Nests always occur in tall open forests. 95% of nests occur in emergent trees in old-growth eucalyptus forests. Wedgies usually pair for life. When courting and pair-bonding, the pair performs aerial displays. Courtship usually starts in June and by August the nest is ready for an egg. One or, less commonly, two, eggs are laid. Eggs are whitish-gray with a few brown spots. The period from hatching to fledging lasts 90 days, by which age a chick can feed itself. After fledging the juvenile remains near the nest for several weeks. A subspecies is a landscape hunter with a wide distribution on mainland Tasmania, including its large offshore islands, along the coast and inland on the highlands. Is listed as endangered by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). With fewer than 200 pairs left in the wild. Like the Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), the eagle was once subject to a bounty in Tasmania, as it was believed to prey on livestock. Decreasing numbers of Tasmanian Devils may be beneficial to the Wedge-Tailed Eagles in Tasmania, as it could reduce competition for roadkill and devil predation on young eagles. Wedge-Tailed Eagles are highly aerial, soaring for hours on end without wingbeat or effort, regularly reaching 6,000 feet (1,800 meters), and sometimes considerably higher. The purpose of this very high flight is unknown. Their keen eyesight extends into the infrared and ultraviolet bands. This helps them spot prey and allows them to see rising thermals, which they can use to gain altitude while expending little energy. Most prey is captured on the ground in gliding attacks or (less frequently) in the air. Choice of prey is very much a matter of convenience and opportunity: since the arrival of Europeans, the introduced rabbit and brown hare have become the primary items of the eagle’s diet in many areas. The Wedge-Tails can eat almost anything of a suitable size, live-caught or as carrion. Wedgies display considerable adaptability, and have sometimes been known to team up to hunt animals as large as the Red Kangaroo, to cause goats to fall off steep hillsides and injure themselves, or to drive flocks of sheep or kangaroos to isolate a weaker animal. 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. Shortly after their return to England, Elizabeth Gould died in 1841. She completed 84 plates for. Before her untimely death at the age of just 37. The result of the Goulds’ trip was the seminal. (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. A Monograph of the Macropodidae, or Family of Kangaroos. The Mammals of Australia. 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. Was issued by subscription; in all there were 250 subscribers, so 250 sets of the seven-volume work were printed. 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. A full color portrait of a large adult wedge-tailed eagle surveying his domain. The legend WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE denotes the theme, while the privy mark JG indicates that the vignette is taken from an original illustration in John Gould’s seminal work. His Majesty, King Charles III, in profile effigy facing left. This portrait was executed by the engraver Jody Clark. The legend CHARLES III, the date of issue and denomination also appear, while the legend 1 OZ 999 SILVER guarantees the weight and purity. The coin is encapsulated inside a luxurious clamshell-style presentation case, lined with black velvet and satin, and protected by a full color outer cardboard box. An individually-numbered certificate of authenticity is included. The image of the back side of the certificate is a mint-supplied image intended for general reference only. Serial number on image is NOT indicative of the serial number you will receive! 999 Fine (Pure) Silver. John & Elizabeth Gould (obverse) Jody Clark (reverse).