$1 Uncirculated Coins

I have heard about the delegate coin, but not much more information than what you have.

No one knows yet how many APEC $1 coins were minted in total, but supposedly there were approx. 1000 of these delegate boxes produced. The reason I say boxes and not coins is that the coin is no different than the ones going into circulation, it was just placed in a different box.

I looked at purchasing one of these myself and decided not to. But before you feel admonished hear my opinion. I am a collector and not an investor (of coins). My opinion is that coins are not a great investment, but knock the Sox off any other hobby. I will pay a premium for a Choice UNC or above coin, but will not pay a premium for packaging.

The question I asked myself was if I purchased one of the delegate boxes to acquire the coin, would the quality be significantly better? The answer: I have no idea. While pondering, I purchased a roll of the coin for about $20 less than the delegate boxed coin. In that roll, I found a coin that met my requirements and decided the chances of getting better were slim. The other coins from the roll, got spent.

I will be honest. I am originally from the US and don't have a clue how the mining process works here, or how the coin is treated from minting to packaging. I have a trip to the RAM planned right after Christmas to learn a bit about that.

I have never seen one of the delegate coins and would love it if you could look at yours under a 10X lens and let us know about what it looks like. What kinds of little knicks (bagmarks) and ticks it might have or not have.

Going back to my opinion on packaging, I see a lot of people paying HUGE premiums for a coin packaged a certain way (i.e. PNC's, mint sets and other types of packaging.) I will pay a premium only if the coin itself is superior, which often times it is. I believe the value is ultimately in the coin, not the paper. I do acquire coins through PNC issues because they often seem to be in better condition or only available that way. I cut them out however and have been scolded severly by several people for doing so. (yes even the world heritage 50 cent PNC and the Victoria Cross.)

I attended an auction recently where up for sale was a 1970 Captain Cook 50 cent coin in PNC. I have a superb example in my collection, that I paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $5-$10. The particular coin in the PNC at the auction looked liked HEL*. It had very bad eye appeal, but it brought over $200 only because it was in a white envelope. I will never understand that. Each to his own, but I simply won't pay that much for stamps that are worth $1.00, an envelope that is worth 18 cents, and in this case a coin that should be used to buy a can of Coke.

To answer your question, yes they did put about 1000 of these coins in boxes for delegates to APEC, I'm sure Mr. Bush took one back to the White House. They would have minted some untold millions of the coin. Who knows how may boxes are still in Australia. If the coin, due to its packaging, has been taken care of by the RAM better than the other millions of APEC coins, you did well to purchase it regardless of price. If the coin is average uncirculated, keep it in the packaging as someone down the road will pay you a lot of money for the box, provided the coin is still in it.

Welcome to the hobby of coin collecting. I have a great deal of passion for it, and am somewhat opinionated. I am also I'm sure becoming known for my long and possibly boring posts on this board.

And always remember...you can never pay too much for a coin as long as you pass the two step rule:

1. You love it.
2. You can afford it.

The latest RAM mintage figures for APEC's is 20.101 million, but that's only up to 30 June 07.

The delegate APEC $1 is rubbish. The box isn't even worth owning. It came with no certificate and the coin is simply a circulating $1 put into a cheap and nasty box. If I recall correctly the box didn't even have a label. The RAM was selling them. I forget the price.

You would be better off buying the roll from the mint. At least it has a collectable wrapper and might, might mind you, contain a CHU coin. I went through $1000 (50) rolls and kept 40 of what I considered to be CHU. The rest were all UNC with plenty of bagmarks.