The perentie is Australia’s largest lizard and the fourth largest in the world, growing to 2.5 metres. On the coloured 2012 one dollar from the Perth Mint this monitor is set against the sky above Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

The park in the Northern Territory, 440 km south-west of Alice Springs, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987 for its natural values and again in 1994 as a cultural landscape. Its landmarks are the sandstone monolith of Uluru, 348 metres high with most of its bulk below ground, and the 36 domes of Kata Tjuta, whose Aboriginal name means «many heads». On 26 October 1985 the land was handed back to the Anangu people, who leased it to the government for 99 years under joint management.

The coin was issued in the five-coin «Celebrate Australia» series of 2012 devoted to the country’s World Heritage sites; the coloured image is printed on aluminium bronze, and the coin is noticeably larger than a standard Australian dollar. The choice of the perentie is meaningful: in Aboriginal cultures the lizard is tied to totemic relationships and Dreaming stories.

UNC condition: never circulated, no wear, with mint lustre and colour untouched by circulation. For collections of fauna on coins, reptiles or UNESCO sites, it is one of the most striking Australian pieces.

A coin from the VPcoins range makes a good starting point for a themed selection or a date run.