The Royal Australian Mint has launched Colours of Christmas, a new Christmas coin series built around something every Australian knows well: Christmas in summer, when the festive season means beaches, swimming and long days outdoors.

For its first year, the series turns to Australia’s coral reefs, celebrating the colour and sheer variety of life beneath the water.

The Design

Drawing on the shapes and colours of a living reef, the coin bursts with purple, blue, green, pink, red, orange and yellow, layered over finely detailed relief. The colour and texture work together to suggest movement and depth, like sunlight falling through clear tropical water.

At the centre sits the year, 2026, surrounded by a radiating pattern that reads at once as stained glass, stars, snowflakes and spiny sea urchins. The result is unmistakably festive, yet entirely Australian.

The Release

Uncirculated. Each coin sits at the heart of a large decorative card, swirling with colour and finished with gold foil. The cards come in five colourways: light blue, dark blue and purple, red and pink, orange, and green. Single cards are sent in a random colour, but buying five in one transaction gets you one of each.

Silver proof. The proof coin comes inside a tin Christmas bauble printed in matching colours and tied with a Royal Australian Mint ribbon, along with a certificate of authenticity.

A Note for Collectors

As the first year of a new series, the 2026 Colours of Christmas release is a natural starting point for anyone who enjoys building a run year by year. Because single cards ship in a random colour, collectors after the full set of five colourways will want to buy all five in one order.

With the opening stage run as a ballot, demand is likely to be strong. For more on Australia’s special-release coins, explore our guide to commemorative coinage.