2022-04-11 Mon

When Australia went to war in the 1910s, artists went to work creating posters supporting the war effort. These posters are modern inspirations for an annual coin series issued by the Perth Mint.

Shown above is the 2017 silver dollar coin, the fourth in the series that began in 2014, depicts a poster created in 1916 by the Young Men’s Christian Association. These photos were then sent free of charge via the YMCA to troops in hospitals and on the front lines in Europe and the Middle East.

Designed by artist Fred Pegram, the colorful poster features a group of Australian soldiers in a French village smiling and passing around photographs received from home. It was one of the most effective World War I campaigns in Australia, according to the Perth Mint. Designer Wade Robinson translated the historic poster into coinage art for the Perth Mint.

Image Courtesy: coinworld.com