SettingsSettings Subscribe  

NumisTip

Recent Articles 9-Nov-2022

The Australian One Cent

Walter Eigner The Australian One Cent is a keenly collected series owing to its attractive design and relative affordability. It was first issued in 1966 and continued as a regular issue until 1991. Due to its popularity, the coin was re-issued in 2006, 2010, and 2016 as part of collector sets. 26-Aug-2021

Cleaning Coins

Walter Eigner Cleaning coins is one of the most divisive issues in coin collecting though most of the contention stems from a misunderstanding of the problems with cleaning coins. Dealers typically advise new collectors that cleaning will devalue their coins then they go ahead and happily sell cleaned coins. 22-Feb-2020

Rare Pre-Decimal Coins

Anna Fhaumnuaypol Pre-decimals are coins that everyone, whether you are a collector or just starting out, usually have in their collection which have the potential to truly worth a lot of money. It represents a very interesting look into the past since when it was first introduced in Australia in 1910. 25-Jan-2020

1942 and 1943 Bombay Mint Copper

Anna Fhaumnuaypol During wartime, the demand for pennies and half pennies increased immensely due to pay requirements of Australian and American forces within Australia. However, the availability of metals, especially copper and silver used for coins, was in shortage due to it being used for the war effort for munitions. Moreover, people were continuing to hoard silver and copper coins in money boxes for fear of instability resulting in banks running out of coins to function their day-to-day routine. 22-Nov-2019

Collecting Old Australian Coins

Walter Eigner Collecting old Australian coins provides a fascinating glimpse into Australia's history through its circulating coinage. While there is a general impression that old coins are too expensive for new collectors to collect that couldn't be further from the truth. For just a few dollars you could obtain a later year mint-state pre-decimal coin, and for less than the cost of a modern proof set you can purchase a George V (1911-1936) pre-decimal coin. 1-Nov-2019

The case for certified coins

Walter Eigner The debate on certified coins vs uncertified coins has been going on in Australia since PCGS first reached the mainstream Australian market back in 2008. While today most Australian coin collectors favour PCGS graded coins, a recent incident has reaffirmed the importance of and buying certified coins and valuing them first, especially when buying on-line. 5-Oct-2019

Valuing Old Coins

Walter Eigner By far the most common question we get asked is "what is my coin worth?" Perhaps you found a few old coins which is why you're here reading this article. Maybe you're a seasoned collector already looking to get more precise values for your coins than the printed catalogues can offer. Perhaps you're an investor looking to value your coin portfolio. This guide will cover all of that. 28-Sep-2019

The Silver of Edward VII

Walter Eigner Although Australia had been a nation since 1901, it wasn't until 1910 that her first official coins were produced. While the Melbourne mint was producing sovereigns and half sovereigns at the time, these were technically Imperial British coins. The first coins issued specifically for Australia were struck in silver and of the denominations threepence, sixpence, shilling, and florin. These featured the Australian Coat of Arms on the reverse and the crowed bust of King Edward VII on the obverse. 10-Sep-2019

Sydney Mint Half Sovereigns

Walter Eigner The discovery of gold in the colony New South Wales in 1851 prompted a surge of immigration among prospectors seeking wealth in the new colony. This lead to the production of half sovereigns in Sydney as of 1855. Only 3.3 million half sovereigns were produced from 1855 to 1869 resulting in individual years being very scarce and valuable. To add to this, the high bullion content of Sydney mint half sovereigns, which were alloyed with silver, compared with their British counterparts, which were alloyed with copper...
Previous Page: Most Well Known and Rare Pre-Decimal CoinsNext Page: Rare Pre-Decimal Dates

A Point in History through Rare Pre-Decimal Coins

Rare Pre-Decimal Varieties

1916 Mule Half Penny

Back in 1916, all the mints in Australia were unprepared to produce bronze coins and so the Calcutta mint in India were tasked 1916 to strike Australian half pennies instead. However, there was a very small number of this 1916 half pennies that were mistakenly produced with the obverse of an Indian one quarter anna. It was not until June 1965 that this mistake was discovered by Cecil Poole in Adelaide (Rodgers, 2019). The type of error is called a mule. The half penny mule can be identified by the lack of pearls in the crown of George V and an Elephant on the shoulder of King George V.

Due to its late discovery, there was scepticism at first whether the coin was authentic or not, but this debate was settled when the Royal Australian Mint confirmed the authenticity in January of 1966 (Numismatics News, 2019). According to the Triton Technologies International, at least five of the 1916 Mule Half Penny are confirmed and as little as seven might be known to exist (2001). This makes this coin extremely rare and show that production mistake in coin collecting can be unique and lead to higher value.

1922/1 Overdate Threepence

Australia was entering an economic boom known as the roaring 20s and the need for lower denominations was in high gear. The Melbourne Mint was tasked to produce a little over 5.5 million threepence coins in 1922 which meant that the mint had to start working as soon as it can possibly can. The problem was that the dies for 1922 were not going to be ready in time forcing them to use 1921 dated dies. This high demand that caused the conflict of the years were highly unusual and so the 1922/1 overdate threepence is considered another rare pre-decimal coin for collectors to obtain especially in good condition. Named as the rarest silver pre-decimal coin ever issued for circulation, the 1922/1 Overdate Threepence is rarer with a mintage of about 900 than the 1930 Penny with a mintage of 3000 (Vintage Coins and Banknotes, n.d.).

Previous Page: Most Well Known and Rare Pre-Decimal CoinsNext Page: Rare Pre-Decimal Dates