Who Is Macquarie Mint?

Macquarie Mint is a mail-order company, that operates along similar lines to Seven Seas and (for those in America) Littleton. I don't know about the truthfulness of their claims for silver bullion performance, but the use of the word "Mint" in their company name is, in my personal opinion, misleading, because Macquarie Mint doesn't actually "mint" anything. They're a coin marketing company. Their business model is simple: buy cheap bullion coins from around the world (though most of what they buy is old Perth Mint stock that didn't sell), find some gimmicky trinket or object to "go-with" it, re-package it all up in Macquarie Mint wrappers and sell the lot to some unsuspecting "investor" for twice the price Macquarie Mint paid for it.

Macquarie Mint is not linked to Macquarie Bank, Macquarie University, Macquarie Radio or any of the other high-profile Australian institutions with "Macquarie" in the name.

My dad found himself added to Macquarie Mint's coin-of-the-month mailing list when he bought me a coin as a present via one of their newspaper advertisements; each month they'd send a coin-with-gimmick package and charge his credit card for it if he didn't return it. He found it less hassle to pay for the coins each month and save them up to give to me each birthday and Christmas than to try to cancel it. Eventually I persuaded him that these coins he was buying me as gifts were perhaps not the best use of his gift money.

Most of what they sell will never be worth much more than bullion, and probably nowhere near what Macquarie Mint's customers originally pay for the stuff (their current rate, according to the ads Craig posted above, is $99.95 per one ounce coin!), but occasionally they might (in their ignorance) send you a sleeper purely by chance. In among the two dozen or so one ounce silver bullion coins I ended up being given by my dad, one of them was a Redback Spider Tuvalu dollar - and those things are routinely selling for over $1000 these days. It is, theoretically, the most valuable coin in my entire collection, even without its original Perth Mint packaging.

Hi, thanks for the information. BTW, its only a 1/2 ounce coin!

Contact details just found
Contact Us
Please feel free to contact our friendly and helpful team via the following methods:

Phone: 1300 798 368 TOLL FREE

Postal Address:

Macquarie Mint
PO Box 255
Abbotsford, VIC, 3067
Australia
Email: information@macquariemint.com

Fax: (03) 8456 8499

Sap or anyone,who actually strikes the Maquarie Mint coins for Downies?

So there is no real "mint" as such

"Macquarie Mint is just a name Downies use to make buyers think its official releases from an issuing authority" is what I always thought they were

I am yet to be convinced Downies/Macquarie buy coins from any old mint anywhere in the world as suggested Sap

The Macquarie Mint $10 coin for $10 is a scam. After October 31st 2013 the coin has absolutely no value. In other words, they are selling these crappy souvenirs for $10 and promise to refund the $10 if you return the coin by the above date. They are hoping that a majority of the suckers dont return the coin.This coin is also only 50% silver content (according to the website)
Pity the poor people who fall for this one.

The Nauru $10 coin scam crustykaz is talking about is discussed here.

Like all Macquarie Mint advertising, the Nauru coins have been advertised in newspapers, magazines, everywhere except places where actual coin collectors are likely to look for coins (like in CAB Magazine, for instance).

Which tells you something about Macquarie Mint's target market. They're not interested in attracting actual coin collectors, but people on the fringes of the hobby - interested newbie speculator/investors and friends/relatives of coin collectors.


Well, I wouldn't go quite that far. Assuming they're not lying about the silver content too, there's $6 worth of silver in those "coins". Just probably not worth the $10 people paid. And, given the non-legal-tender status, they're not really "coins" - "fantasies" would be the correct terminology.

With any luck, Nauru will take Macquarie Mint to court and get them shut down. If that happened, I'd want one of these "coins", as a souvenir of the controversy.