Noodling Stats To 19 July 2016

Hi everyone, I'm your typical long time reader, first time poster...in particular stats is a particular interest of mine. Before I stumbled upon this forum, I was taking stats on coins by year only, regardless if it was a commemorative or not. I wanted to put this up once I found my last elusive 20c coin, but I suppose I could do it again when I do get it.

And here is my findings so far:


A grand total of 19,858 20 cent coins.

Mint Set, you've done very well to collect such detailed statistics. I always get bogged down trying to keep track of varieties and errors, which can be notoriously difficult due to their subjective nature.

I suspect the 1985 and 1991 coins you found came from mint sets. We know that no 20c coins were minted for circulation in 1991, and although they did make some for 1985, I doubt they would have released them until they'd used up the 1983 and 1984 ones (which were eventually melted down ).

The 1995 UN one is notoriously difficult to find in circulation, and as a result, I've become increasingly doubtful about whether the stated mintage figure (4.8 million) is accurate. It's possible that many people hoarded it because it was the only commemorative 20c coin in circulation for 6 years, but at the end of the day, who really cares about the United Nations?

I'm surprised you've had so much trouble finding the Queensland CoF 20c. We were absolutely flooded with them back in 2001, and I still occasionally find one while noodling. My nemesis has always been the Tasmanian one. I reckon they're still trying to get to the other side of Bass Strait.

I wouldn't quite put it that way. There were many circulating in Brisbane back in 2001/2002, but I was still a kid then, and I had no income, so I had to get my parents' permission every time I wanted to keep one, and they were always quite stingy about this.

Before the CoF coins came out, I was only allowed to keep one of each circulating coin, but because the CoF coins were so nice, I was allowed to keep three of each.

Most of the ones I've found since then have been in such poor condition that I've put them straight back into the pond, although I have kept a few more just in case.



Maybe, but there are far more SA 20c in Brisbane at the moment than any of the other CoF ones. Perhaps no one liked the SA design, so they kept putting it back into circulation.



Which volunteers coin are you talking about? 2003 or 2011?



They obviously weren't sent to Adelaide. There are plenty up here in Brisbane, but no 2016s.



Same with me. I've been through over $950 worth of 10c coins, and only found one of them.




The 2012 red poppy isn't a circulating coin, because it was distributed in folders by the RSL. The other coloured coins are notoriously difficult to find in circulation, but they can still be found if you do enough noodling. I'm still a bit upset with myself that I haven't noodled all the Woollies coins yet, but I guess I just have to be patient and let it happen in its own time.

I never take anything the RAM says at face value. I used to think the red poppy coin was a circulating release as well, but I've been told by other much more experienced collectors on this forum that it did not circulate. There are a few people who claim to have found one in their change, but that's probably because a few people who got them from the RSL decided to spend them.