What Is Rare?

Just checking my list of mintages and noted that Ausjack's RAM link indicates that there were 21.3m of the 2009 $1 (Aged Pension) minted but I can only see where 10.158m were produced in 2009/10 (according to the RAM Annual Report). Can anybody enlighten me as to when the rest were minted?

It does seem a little unusual that the mintages for both the 2009 MOR $1 and the Aged Pension would be almost identical.

Pedro

well said trout

I think we should be carefull not to confuse "rarity" with "high value".

The 1972 5c has a mintage of 8 million but it is considered hard to find because its numbers are dwarfed by the total number of 5c in circulation.

There are more 1930 Pennies than many NCLT issues but the 1930 Penny is such an icon of the Australian collecting community that this drives the price up.

Many low mintage commemmorative issues or NCLT issues are not hard to find and are not highly valued because people hoard them.

I've been through over 10,000 20c and 50c coins that I've obtained from local banks - mostly in $100 lots for 20c, and $200 lots for 50c- in the last couple months, and can give some ideas as to how often a coin may be found in general circulation:

In the 20 cents, the rarest date of the standard issue is the 1971, usually just one or two of them in a $100 bag - 37 in all, and I'm yet to find a really nice one...

The 2004 Large Head has turned up 5 times in the 10450 coins I've searched through, so it is not common.
In the commems., the UN is the hardest: 4 in 10450
2001 Bradman has appeared 13 times
2001 States have appeared 38 times (and I'm yet to get a QLD)
2011 volunteers are pretty scarce too, just 15 found

I've not found any NCLT dates in 20's or 50's
Note that just finding a particular coin is one thing, finding it in collectable state is another....I've had to throw back some due to damage

In the 50 cents I've looked at some 10700 coins. Figures were a bit biased thanks to a bag I got yesterday, which had an over-representation of commem issues in it - 3 x 1991 RAMS in EF/AU were a nice bonus though
and a couple of really nice 2000 (standard) Millenniums. I reckon someone had given back a collection of 50's There were over 40 Weary Dunlops, so somebody had been saving them: normally you only get a half dozen or so in a $200 bag.

I've found the 1985 COA 4 times; the 1993 COA 12 times in 10700

1991 RAMS were 4 in 10300 - till yesterday - now 7 in 10700
2001 Federation States are 110 in 10700, and I've found a full set a couple of times over
As for Incused 2000 Millenniums, I'm 1 for nearly 200 coins

Sure, most of these are an easy pickup on ebay or local coin dealer, but the search for certain coins presents more of a challenge, and there's always the possibility of finding a totally new variety..

Just about EVERY coin listed on E-Bay...