An Introduction To Predecimal New Zealand Coins 1933 - 1965

The only pre-decimal coin I've ever found in circulation over here was a 1958 NZ Shilling. Didn't know mintage was only 1 million. I wonder were I put it.

It's all true growing up poor in the 1980s, all of us and the people we knew drove clapped out wrecks from the 1960s. I used to laugh at these cars and a few people had better cars, mostly assembled locally. I called the 1960s cars old bombs and "Bomby cars". The funniest was a bubble car called a Morris Oxford and one guy with a viva that barely moved, along with a rusted Singer Gazelle (That was a heapy car).

My Dad had a Wolseley 16/60 from 1964 until 1986. It was a nice car once, but was a rusted pile of junk by the time he had it, half tank and half car. My Mum ran through a series of clapped out Mini 850s and Austin 1100s.

The big change was the arrival of Japanese imports in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Overnight the Vauxhall Vivas, Singer Gazelles, Wolseleys, Austins and Holden HQs were replaced by a 1981 Mitsubishi sigma and 1982 Corollas and Slyphys.

The fact you still saw this junk in the late 1990s was amazing, a few 70s wrecks survived into the 1990s, and you likely saw scarfies (Otago university students, who wore scarfs to keep out the cold winds) and their cars which cost about $200 or the Undy 500 race. This was an annual car run from Christchurch to Dunedin in cars costing under $500. Most of the cars died on the way down to Dunedin with its 2 major hills the Killmog and the Leith Valley. The race ended around 2000 after contractors got sick of collecting wrecked and dead cars off the Killmog (a 200m high hill).

As far as old cars go now, the oldest are mid 1990s Japanese imports, in 1958 most people had a car and the oldest would have been 1920s, probably less than half would be post war. One of my newspapers from 1965 had cars from 1960 costing over £1000 second hand and a 1926 Studebaker runabout for £5!

Oz Leigh - 1 million as you will see, was actually a very high mintage for shillings, so sorry to burst your bubble when you see the years with like 200,000 minted.

I guess because in 1958, NZ had about 2.3 million people and they needed a lot fewer coins than Australia now with 25 million people.

Plus those coins like $2 coronation and 1972 5 cents are known collectibles - no one was actively collecting everyday coins of NZ then except maybe 1935 Threepences and the Waitangi Crown.

Plus the hype and brouhaha surrounding coins now, did not exist back then.

You have some nice examples of the "boring" years.

Pretty much describes the US coins from 1982 to 1998.

If not for the bicentennial (1975-1976), you could stretch that back to 1971 when we had the dollar coins. Or back to 1965 if you do count the 40% silver half dollars as anything special (1965-1970).

I am not including any NCLT stuff here (proof coins, 40% silver issues, and commemorative released starting in 1982).

1960 - The last "Unremarkable year"

1960 was the last year of no Florins or Halfcrowns and the last year in which it was business as usual. Every year would be memorable for something after it.


My 1960 selection - by now its all EF or almost so. The 3d and 6d are practically UNC

Coins issued in 1960

Shillings - 600,000
Sixpences - 1,600,000
Threepences - 4,000,000
Pennies - 7,200,000
Halfpennies - 2,400,000

Total coins issued - 15,800,000
Face Value - £155,000

1960 saw another low mintage of shillings (Still it was better than the no mintage of Halfcrowns and Florins), I guess it was the durability of the Cupronickel coins that ensured not as many were needed. As before the 3d and 1d were the supreme change coins and as before many things cost 3d. Halfpenny and Sixpence numbers were modest but adequate as well.

None of 1960's coins are very hard to get in average of high condition. Truly UNC are elusive, but EF/AU stuff is quite easy and your standard coin is likely to be a high VF. Although the 6d and 1/- were used into decimal times, most of them in use after 1967 were either 1947 - 51 or 1964 and 1965, finding a 1959 or 1960 shilling in circulation in 1992 would have been amazing.


Tails - only the Penny is letting the side down!

1960 was noteworthy for something else in New Zealand, TV finally began, although only in Auckland and only for 2 hours a day Monday to Friday. It reached Wellington and Christchurch the next year and Dunedin in 1962. Programming stretched out to 6 hours a day in 1962 and not until 1965 did you get TV in most places and a basic 10am to 10pm service.

Licences were very expensive £5 a year and the cheapest set, a Murphy or La Gloria 14 inch "consolette" cost £129/19/11½d or about 6 - 8 weeks wages (Or 25,800 1960 shillings!), at the other end a 25 inch cabinet type monstrosity cost £400 or more (About $1100 American).


3 or 4 of these and you had your 2 hours of night time entertainment

Despite all these limitations, TV became popular and by 1965 some 500k sets had been sold or rented (Most people rented them at 30/- a week or more) and by 1968, some 85% of NZ homes had a TV set in them. All the broadcasts were Black and White, colour only arriving in 1974!

Next 1961 - the big coins come back, although on a "limited" basis.

1961 - The Big Coins come back

1961 saw all the coins reissued again and it was obvious which one was to be favoured. An interesting year which gave us 2 bona fide scarcities and our rarest non silver circulation coin.


The shiny line up of 1961 classics! That florin is a let down though (Probably got used in decimal era).


My 1961 Halfcrown, its UNCIRCULATED and look at the shine!

Coins issued in 1961

Halfcrowns - 80,000 (Lowest ever)
Florins - 1,500,000 (A high mintage)
Shillings - 400,000 (Low)
Sixpences - 800,000 (Lowish)
Threepences - 4,800,000 (Usual)
Pennies - 7,200,000 (A lot)
Halfpence - 2,880,000 (Quite high by their standards)

Total coins - 17,660,000
Face Value - £ 296,000 (Having the big coins back makes a difference)

Apart from the Pennies, Threepences and Florins, the coins issued this year were quite limited. The first Halfcrowns in 8 years gave us our lowest ever mintage at just 80k. They are scarce but not outrageously rare. An average one is about $5, my UNC is worth around $80, but I got it in a bulk lot with several AU 1948 - 1965 coins for $120.

You may also notice the 1961 Shilling is a scarce coin too at 400k and the Sixpence is not that common either. Fortunately because we are in the 1960s now, getting a VF example of everything presents little challenge and EF is doable for the commoner pieces. Of course you can get Fine/VG ones too, if you pick up a 6d, 1/- or 2/- that got used in the decimal era as a 5c,10c or 20c piece!


Look at that shine (Photo does not do it justice, this blings)

By this stage the future of sterling coins was being questioned and already calls for decimalisation were taking place, although it was not until 1963 the decision was made. At this stage at least, it was decided having 2 coins near in value was quite silly and one would be promoted over the other. The Florin was chosen as it was double the shilling and also converted easily into 10 to the pound and would become a 20 cent piece in any future dollar/Kiwi (yes they thought of the Kiwi as a unit, like the Aussies wanted a Royal) unit system.

Basically only 3 more years of halfcrowns were minted and mintages did not climb above the mid 6 figures. Meanwhile apart from 1963, it was Florin overload. The decimal system also got wheels when South Africa went decimal in this year.

1961 is also known as the year when the Post war Baby boom peaked at 4 children per woman and this would drop from this point on. It was the highest since World war One! It was also the peak of the Post War Prosperity Boom, yet clouds were appearing. The Hunn report pointed out how far behind everyone else, the Maori were and urbanisation was not working. Also crime and delinquency were rising and people were rebelling against how strict society was.

Next 1962 - a fairly big year.