A PNC is a shortened term for a postal or philatelic and numismatic cover. This is generally a first day cover type of envelope with stamps and a postmark and then a coin inserted into the cover. Ordinarily in Australia these PNC's are issued by the Royal Australian Mint or Perth Mint in conjunction with Australia Post. Sometimes they have limited edition numbers or special limited stamps but quite often they are freely available as unlimited issues.
My concern to those not familiar with PNC's is that just recently in the last couple of years it has become "fashionable" to buy and onsell these pnc's for profit. This has brought rise to backyard operators creating their own pnc's from first day covers or simply envelopes with stamps maybe postmarked at a post office with crude holes cut for the coins.
My advice here is to research what you are buying before jumping in and bidding on items such as those on eBay. Check the mintage / issue numbers for what you are buying and check if these are in fact official releases. Don't be caught out. History has shown that in reality only one Australian private release PNC has brought profit for buyers. This is the 1969 Yarralumla PNC I have previously written about. One of the the latest releases onto the Australian market is an interesting issue from Downie's. It celebrates Australia's relationship with Denmark because of Princess Mary and contains a 2007 20 cent. Personally I don't see how this all fits together as a PNC and obviously it is not an official issue by any means, don't get caught out here.
Posted by harrisk at January 12, 2009 7:04 PM
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