20 cents 2024 - 20th Anniversary of Where is the Green Sheep
By CAA | Saturday, 24 August 2024
The Royal Australian Mint released a 20 cents coin for the 20th Anniversary of Where is the Green Sheep?. The coin was sold in card, in a special edition book and a gold-plated coloured version in a deluxe special edition book.
Published by Penguin Books, written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Judy Horacek, Where is the Green Sheep? is a children's picture book which depicts various coloured sheep in various activities, with the protagonist, the green sheep.
It appears on the School Library Journal Top 100 Picture Books List and the New York Public Library 100 Great Children's Books of the Last 100 Years list.
Where is the Green Sheep? The answer is... on a coin! What a thrill it is to have the green sheep hit such heights.
I’m very grateful to everyone involved in creating the original book and madly grateful to the Mint for honouring the book so beautifully in its 20th anniversary year. Like a coin, I’m spinning!
- Mem Fox
The author also published Possum Magic in 1983. It follows Hush, a possum whose Grandma Poss turns her invisible to protect her from the bush.
After a course in children's literature at Flinders University, Fox wrote wrote the story Hush the Invisible Mouse (eventually renamed Possum Magic), but it was rejected 9 times over 5 years. Omnibus Books finally accepted it, but asked her to rewrite it more lyrically, cut ⅔ of the story and change the mice to possums.
| Product | Mintage | Issue price |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 20c Coloured Uncirculated - Coin in Card | 25,000 | $17.50 |
| 2024 20c Coloured Uncirculated Coin - Special Edition Book | Included above | $50.00 |
| 2024 20c Gold-Plated Coloured Uncirculated Coin - Deluxe Special Edition Book | 3,000 | $85.00 |
