Post Your Australian Circulation Finds

Just before lockdown mania descended again, I picked up a bag of "Miscellaneous coins and notes" in a stamp auction. It got a lot of attention, but no one wanted it, except me.



I got it for $20 and was blown away with the contents, this was a real bargain.


3 silver 1966 50 cent coins, not rare and these are definitely lower down the condition spectrum - but that is $39 worth of silver in a $20 purchase, fair dinkum cobbers!




Over half of it was Australian, including a nice 25 cent Legends coin with the Victoria cross, I understand these are not that common and were quite hard to get with some silly newspaper promotion. I had heard of this series but had no idea how large it was!



A great selection of change ($17.50 in modern), including an UNC 2017 MOR dollar, 3 x $2 and a 1999 Year of old person dollar. The 50 cents included a Volunteers, Outback and AU 1975 and 1976 coins, a 1980 and 1983 and 4 x 1970 Cooks, although they are EF/AU. In anycase these coins filled gaps and I upgraded my Volunteers coin. The 20s were also nice including 2011 Volunteers and the ugly Royal wedding one. THE 10 cent coins even included a UNC 1997 10 cent coin (A scarce date and it filled a big gap). I also finally got a 2017 5 cent piece.

To top it all off, there was a penny and it was a gVF 1936



I don't have this date and despite its colour, the wear is light, George has full diamond and only light wear on the crown pearls.

For $20 NZD, I think you will all agree I did well here?

Fantastic!

Given PTs recent purchase, I have often wondered if it is cheaper to build collections for a country by purchasing outside the country. I can guarantee that the coins PT purchased would have sold for $40 upwards in Aus. Likewise, I have scored some great NZ sets in OZ whereas Oz coins are ridiculously expensive in Oz. Trick is buy from non-dealers to get the best deals.

Yes,that's the way to go,amazing what you can pick up if the Auctioneer is genuine,Ebay has changed the landscape these days but you can still pick up a bargain.
Barry Cooper,a major Stamp/Coin Dealer from Sydney,semi retired to Ballina but still held his Auctions every Month or 2.
Pre ebay he would Auction the Stamps first and by the time he got to the Coins a couple of hours later the bidders had faded away to a handful and there were bargains to be had if he decided to let the Coin lots sell.

Thanks guys.

If it helps lots come rarely like that one. It was a stamp club auction, where you put a red dot on some lots to be auctioned and the rest is no reserve. This was a RED dot lot and someone had marked it meaning it would be auctioned. Reserve was $20, it came up and I was the only one that bid and got it.

Usually two or three coin buyers come along and the main one was not there that day, the other coin collector, said it wasn't his style and the person who placed the dot remains a mystery, it was not me - but I got to inspect it before hand I thought it was 2 silver 50c, so utter delight when a third one popped out!

Usually on trade me, these coins are sold at $12 - $15 each and that is before the rest.

I think part of the reason to is interest. If there had been, it may have been as high as $70. Luckily my main coin rival (An eccentric Thai guy who once threatened with the Thai mafia) was not there.

I think also as Australia is very unpopular at the moment here, can't go into politics, but will say NZ and Aus differ greatly in their approach to various issues particularly race and dealing with undesirable immigrants that commit crime. Also the governments of both countries are as far apart as they can be!

Of course my personal feelings are ambivalent, I love Australia and Australians - some of my best friends here are Australians and I would hate to think that I would ever show hostility towards them because of their national origin.

They don't hold it against me because I am a Kiwi after all Just as long as I don't start a crime wave there I guess

My latest purchases. I found them on Trade Me!

1988 Bicentenary UNC set

Finally got one, these are getting harder to find with the special 3 coins and beautiful front paintings (c1820 Macquarie era view of Sydney town and Sydney Cove in 1788)


Look at the shine


Like 1987, its another year of trying to get coins that did not circulate like the 20 cents.

Also much cheaper were 1977 and 1982 sets in the flip folders


Only in 1977, would bright purple be a groovy cover!


The 77 had toned bronze as expected and even stained silver


However the 82 set had nice bronze and flawless silver

Did they change the plastic in the early 80s?

I may liberate the coins from these folders anyway (Not 1988).

Ryurazu - That is what I did, I modified that post as it was getting political. But the unexpurgated one lasted about 30mins before I realised it could land me in some hot water

Steve - I agree, I am at a crossroads as I bought about 1000 mylar flips off a seller who has now gone bankrupt because of Covid 19 and there are no more to sell

At this stage I am happy with the condition of the coins in the 88 set and even the 82, but anything with open pouches like that, will need to be moved (I am lucky as the seller is a professional coin dealer and obviously knows a bit about preserving and preservation).

The decision is to go to 2 x 2 holders, but I really want that organic feel of holding my coins, that stapling them up does not have, so I guess I will try and track down another supplier of Mylar flips.