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The Perth Mint's only palladium coin, and Australia's only palladium bullion issue: a 1 oz .9995 fine coin with a $40 AUD face value struck for four years, 1995 to 1998, with a new emu design each year. Mintages were small (the 1995 first issue was a few thousand pieces) and the series was dropped when palladium demand failed to materialise. It is a scarce, collectible way to hold an ounce of palladium.
Australian Palladium Emu melt value tracks palladium spot price directly — this chart is the same live palladium price used to calculate the melt value above, so you can see the trend behind today's number.
What is actually struck on each face, and who designed it.
Raphael Maklouf's effigy of Queen Elizabeth II with "AUSTRALIA", "40 DOLLARS" and the date.
An emu, in a different pose each year, standing in outback grassland, with "AUSTRALIAN EMU", "1 oz 9995 PALLADIUM" and the date.
Having succeeded with gold (1986), silver and platinum (1988), the Perth Mint tried palladium in 1995 with the Emu — Australia's second national bird after the kangaroo. It was one of only two sovereign palladium coins in production at the time, alongside the Russian Ballerina, and the only one from a Western mint.
Like the Mint's Koala and Kookaburra, the Emu's reverse changed annually, giving collectors a four-coin set for 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998. Both bullion and proof strikes were made; proofs in original packaging are the scarcer form. The series ended after 1998 and the Mint has not struck palladium since.
1 troy ounce (31.185 g gross) of .9995 fine palladium, 36.1 mm diameter, up to 4 mm thick, $40 AUD face value. The unusually large diameter and thickness reflect palladium's low density. Coins should weigh at least 31.1 g; the melt value here is the floor under the coin's collector premium.
About the Australian Palladium Emu
At the current palladium spot price of $1,288.63/oz, the melt value of a Australian Palladium Emu (1 troy oz, .9995 fine palladium) is approximately $1,288.63. This updates continuously with the spot price above — sellers on the marketplace typically price above melt value, since the premium covers minting, distribution, and dealer margin.
Melt value is the raw metal content only — what you'd get scrapping the coin. The premium above it pays for minting, distribution, and dealer margin, and on this marketplace specifically, it's set by each individual seller rather than one company's price list, so it's worth comparing a few listings rather than buying the first one you see.
Like any commodity, palladium trades on global supply and demand — mine output and recycling on the supply side, industrial use, jewelry, and investment buying on the demand side. Short-term moves are usually driven by macro factors: interest rates, currency strength, and how much uncertainty investors are pricing into markets generally.
Government-minted bullion coins like this one are legal tender, widely recognized, and easy to resell — that recognition is usually worth the modest premium over generic rounds or bars of the same weight. For buyers who want to add to a physical position gradually, one-ounce coins are also just a convenient, liquid unit size.
This page shows melt value — spot price times pure metal content, recalculated on every page load. Individual seller listings add their own premium on top, and that premium (not the melt value) is what actually varies between sellers, so it's normal for listing prices below to sit above the number at the top of this page.
Melt value at the same live palladium spot price of $1,288.63/oz.
