2006 Melbourne Queen's Baton Relay Five Dollar Silver Proof Coin

The Royal Australian Mint is producing the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Coins. The Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games are being held from the 15th March 2006 to the 26th March 2006.The Queen's Baton Relay has been a much loved tradition of the Commonwealth Games since 1958. The Baton carries Her Majesty's message to the athletes from Buckingham Palace, London, to the opening ceremony of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.This baton will travel more than 180,000 kilometres and visit all 71 Nations of the Commonwealth in one year and one day – making the Melbourne 2006 Queens Baton Relay the worlds longest, most inclusive relay. The baton will be carried across the globe - over land, air and sea - by thousands of relay runners and on many different modes of transport.The revolutionary baton contains state-of-the-art technical features, including two tiny ‘baton cam cameras, a microphone and a global positioning system to track the batons location at all times.The first coin to be produced and released for the coin series for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games is the Queen's Baton Relay $5.00 Silver Proof Coin. The Queen's Baton is incorportaed onto the design, which is also the logo of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. The design also includes the Prince's Bridge, which runs over the Yarra River in Melbourne.The coin is housed in a beautiful jewellery style presentation case, with a certificate of authenticity confirming the limited mintage of only 10,000 coins.