Sally's "Odds And Sods" - I Will Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours!

This coin is one of my favourite oddities. It is a double-headed 20c. One side 1966 and the other 1982. Obviously a fake. If you look very closely at the 1982 side you can see a very thin line inside the inner edge of the rim. It looks like the 1966 coin was machined to remove metal and then a cut-down 1982 coin was pressed into the gap.

Someone told me that apprentice engineers were sometimes given the task of creating such a coin to test their abilities using lathes. The coin weighs 10.7g.

I think we know someone else in Canada that makes those too.

These are a couple of "tea tokens". They were used by Commonwealth Government public servants in the 1980s ( and maybe earlier? ). I think the idea was for workers to purchase some from the cafeteria on their way to their offices. At morning tea time, instead of workers leaving their desks and crowding in the cafeteria, " tea ladies" would come up to the offices with trollies with tea and coffee etc and workers would swap a token for their cup of tea or coffee and keep working. I think that is how it was supposed to work?
Anyway they are single-sided aluminium tokens. Something out of the ordinary and a 'currency' of sorts.

Why would they need to be cancelled?

They could just be re-used.

Not sure tea tokens with the holes would have been cancelled. Maybe the ones with holes were used as a smaller value? Maybe there was a difference in charges for black tea and tea with milk and sugar? It would be nice to know more about these tokens. I hope someone here can shed more light on them.

Anyway, this $2 coin is another of my favourites. I didn't find it but someone I knew found it and wanted to sell it so I did a trade for it. I like the story that goes with it. My friend would do the shopping and pay cash and bring home the change. She would give all the change to her partner to sort through when she got home. He was quite stoked to find this one. Apparently it was in change given at the supermarket. When you think about all the possibilities - choice of checkout, coins for change, all the $2 coins in the till, then they were quite fortunate to have picked up this coin. They tried their luck with a lottery ticket afterwards but their luck didn't go that far.
The coin is in very good condition and hasn't seen a lot of circulation- possibly even uncirculated going into the till that day? Anyway I am very happy to have one of these in my collection.

Have you considered getting that 'bullseye' coin graded SallyG?
Could put and end to thoughts of 'is it really a genuine one'?
Cool coin regardless.

Thanks for your comments. Yes, a very cool coin and I think I am very lucky to have a "bullseye" coin in my collection.
I can sympathise with you Hondo Boguss about the "abundance" of Australian coins. It's getting expensive to maintain a collection of uncirculated coins when the RAM keep minting more "lollypop" or junk coins than circulating and commemorative issues. I just hope they don't make the same mistake that Australia Post did and try and bleed us collectors for everything they can. I guess we will see?

I won't be getting the "bullseye" coin graded. I am not a big fan of slabbed coins but I do have a few in my collection. I have seen too many (for my liking) criticisms of grades by people I trust. I am also disappointed with the lack of care taken when mounting some coins - too many misaligned coins in the slabs. I'm confident that it is a genuine error. Hard to imagine how anyone could produce a fake one. Anyway its a keeper.

This next coin might be a fake - I would be surprised, and very excited, if it isn't. This was among a collection of coins that my grandfather had accumulated. I think it's a lovely design and it's a shame it didn't make it into circulation. Even I it is a fake it's still a keeper too.