An Introduction To Predecimal New Zealand Coins 1933 - 1965

Well done PrinceTane, nice score.
Hope the cyclone doesn't hit too hard.

Addenda so far

Couple of nice picks up at the sale.

First of a 1953 crown in its original case


They had a black plastic and were slightly smaller than the standard 2½ inch sized holder the 1967 - 1988 Dollars had. The tops of these are often cracked or crazed.

1961 Error, yes 1961 had an error coin after all I clean forgot about. This is the halfpenny with the broken neck.



The coin on the left has chunks missing from the Tiki's torso and his left curling face part leaving an open space. It's not a scarce error and prices suggest that about 1 in 4 1961 dated halfpennies have it. Again like most NZ coin errors its a die related problem.

Finally - what on earth are these,



You will find out in 1965!!!

What would you consider an ''affordable'' price for a complete set of 1962-dated coins?

1963 - a strange year

1963 was the year where they decided on the changeover to decimal currency and set the date for 1967. So planning to chnageover began this year. The first big change was to eliminate the coins that had no place in the new currency and this included the Half Crown.


The 1963 crop of coins, what a pack of shiners except that rare florin.

Coins issued in 1963

Halfcrowns - 400,000
Florins - 100,000 (Lowest mintage ever)
Shillings - 600,000
Sixpences - 800,000
Threepences - 4,000,000
Pennies - 2,400,000
Halfpence - 1,680,000

Total coins issued - 9,880,000
Face Value - £173,500

Numbers issued of all coins down to the 6d were very low and the 100k Florins issued was the lowest for this denomination, possibly as not many were needed. This number is lower than the 1936 and 1944 Florins, but being cupronickel and issued this late, does not attract the mystique and the prices the 2 earlier coins do.

This year also saw the release from the vaults of 1951 dated Half Crowns and Sixpences, that had been sitting there for years and part of the reason why most of these are found in very high grades.

Generally because by 1963, we only had 4 years to run down to decimal currency, most coins have survived in high VF grade or better and even though catalogues charge several dollars for AU/UNC examples, you can find them cheaply unless its the Florin of which most are VF and EF.
It is possible to find VG to VF 6d, 1/- and 2/- though as they were used as decimal coins in the post 1967 period, although 1963 dated coins in this context are rare, most were late 40s and 1964/65.


1963 halfcrown, most are this state.

The 1963 Halfcrown was the last one minted for circulation as well. None were minted in 1964 and the coin was demonitised in May 1965. The 1965 Halfcrowns were strictly for the mint sets only and apparently none entered circulation. As there were no plans to issue a 25 cent coin next to a 20 cent one, it was scrapped. Possibly also as the proposed 50 cent coin was going to be the size of an old halfcrown and yet was worth 2 halfcrowns.

The Penny and Halfpenny numbers were low too and this would be a problem as the number of low value coins either got lost (Dirt coloured coins got lost in the mud) or ended up in childrens piggybanks.

Of all the 1960s years, 1963 is by far the hardest one to collect coins from, but none are majorly difficult, a 1963 Florin will cost a few bucks, the rest will be next to nothing and all should be high grade.

Next 1964 - the last big year of coins.

I'm back baby!

1964 the Penultimate year

1964 was the last year of large mintages and the beginning of the true transistion to decimalisation. No halfcrowns were minted and jumbo numbers of pennies were. Because it was the mid 1960s now and the prosperity was peaking, massive numbers of coins were minted and nearly 35 million coins were minted, the most ever.


1964 coins - by now its all fresh and new!


Coins that saw almost NO use.

Coins minted in 1964

Halfcrowns - None
Florins - 2,000,000
Shillings - 1,400,000
Sixpence - 3,800,000
Threepence - 6,400,000
Pennies - 18,000,000 (However they made these last until 1967 and they did not)
Halfpennies - 2,885,000

Total coins - 34,485,000
Face Value - £521,010/8/4 (Odd amount of halfpence)

1964 saw a huge amount of pennies, mainly as none were issued in 1965 (For circulation, there were 200,000 minted for the coin sets! and these coins got into circulation), despite the number, by early 1966 there was a penny shortage along with halfpennies (Numbers issued were never that high and the under 3 million this year did not help).

Threepence and Sixpence numbers were also high and also numbers of the two higher coins. With the exception of the penny, all would see large numbers in 1965 as well.

The joy of 1964 is that all of these coins are very cheap and easy to find in AU/UNC grade. You can pretty much bet an average 1964 coin is at least gEF. The only exceptions again are worn Sixpences/Shillings/Florins found because these coins circulated into the decimal era and this lasted 39 years. I remember as a kid most of the predecimal coins were 1964 and 1965 ones. Despite this finding good ones is not hard.

As mentioned before no Halfcrowns were issued dated 1964. Numbers of these had dwindled away in the 1960s and the coin was still legal tender, but would not be after May 1965. Part of the reason was the movement to a Base 10 counting system. Shillings and Florins fit into that system (10 shillings = $1, 10 Florins = $2 or £1), Halfcrowns did not.

Plus they were unbelievably close in face value, and the size of the new 50c coin was actually marginally smaller than the halfcrown (They had decided a large or silver 50c coin was not on the cards or a note, and the 7 or 12 sided coin craze of the later 1960s had not started yet). So the impetus was to get rid of the halfcrowns soon enough, so they were well and truly forgotten by 1967.

Next 1965 - the end of an era.

Yup, good old 1964--Beatles, Rolling Stones, Southeast Asia brewing up...

1965 - The Last year of Predecimal coins - Part 1 Circulating coins issued in 1965.

Part 2 will deal with the sets briefly.

1965 was the last year of predecimal coins being issued in New Zealand, coins dated 1965 were likely struck into 1966 and even 1967 as quantities were needed until July 1967 when Decimal currency came in.

The Halfcrown and Penny were only issued for the sets, but there is enough proof through slightly worn examples of both, to prove some of these did enter circulation later in 1966 (Mainly as the sets did not arrive until September 1966)

Numbers issued of the other 5 denominations were very high, especially the Florin to substitute for the Halfcrown and also of the Halfpenny, Shilling and Sixpence.



A glittering parade of 1965 coins.

Coins issued in 1965

Halfcrowns - 200,000 (For sets only and issued Sep 1966 - not legal tender)
Florins - 9,450,000
Shillings - 4,500,000
Sixpences - 8,600,000
Threepences - 4,200,000
Pennies - 200,000 (In sets only, issued Sep 1966)
Halfpence - 5,200,000

Total coins issued (Excluding 200k of each for set coins, a total of 1.4 million coins subtracted) - 30,950,000
Including the set coins - 32,350,000

Face Value of circulating coins only - £1,410,416/13/4 (funny number of halfpennies again)

Set numbers = 200,000

Blue Prooflike sets - 25,000 (Included 500 Ballot sets)
Green Selected coin sets - 75,000
Pink Ordinary coin sets - 100,000
Each set contained one of each coin, making up 7 coins per set and 1.4 million coins in total.

Some may have been cut open and used in circulation especially the Pink set as it cost only 10/- barely more than 1.5x face value.

1965 was the only year in which the face value of coinage issued was over 1 million pounds, over 900 thousand was in Florins alone. Mostly this was due to the Halfcrown being demonitised on May 4 1965, as to prepare people for decimal currency.


An illegal spend after May 1965!

They really wanted to remove the penny and halfpence too, but these were too necessary for small change and lower value commerce. In 1965, a penny still had some value being able to buy a few sweets. They got part of their wish with the Penny being limited to sets only - but there was some 18 million coins from 1964 and over 100 million pennies in circulation anyway!

1965 was a great year for some errors too, extremely rare ones include a halfpenny with a British heads (The latin legend rather than our English language one) and a Threepence struck on a Hong Kong 5 cent coin planchet (A tiny brass coin). Both are mega rare costing 5 figures.

Less rare are the 1965 Broken back shilling and the broken wing on the sixpence.


Broken wing Type 1 - VF

There were 2 types, a partially broken wing like the coin above and fully broken wing. Both are scarce without being rare, but this partially broken one is more scarce than the more broken one. Caused by a filled die and likely from striking a huge number of sixpences (History shows that sixpences were minted in quite low quantities most years after 1934). Of the 8.4 million circulation sixpences, around 200k were broken wings and only appear in circulation coins, none of the set ones.

The coins were issued at various times between 1965 and early 1967 and many of the 6d, 1/- and 2/- ended up remaining in circulation well after 1967 as they fitted as 5c, 10c and 20c coins as well. Just in case you can't understand why your 1965 Shilling looks as flat as a 1948 one! However finding nice examples will be easy and it is actually very hard to find a worn 1965 Halfpenny, Threepence or Halfcrown (Pennies tarnish very easy).

Uncirculated examples of all the 1965 coins are standard, you may have to buy a whole set for the Penny and Halfcrown, however here in NZ at least, a party trick is to buy a 1965 (Most likely Pink or Green) set, cut out the Penny and Halfcrown above each other and sell it loose, and then sell the rest separately. Mostly the prices are not any cheaper. More on this in the second part.

This would lead to a coin shortage for the Bronze in 1966 and in late 1966, 50 tonnes of Australian pennies were shipped over here to help out. The Australians had no need for them, given they had changed to decimal currency in Feb 1966.