The circulation dollar released for 2009 is the Centenary of the Age Pension coin. You'll soon start to find these in your change. The reverse design is depicted by RAM designer Wojciech Pietranik. It captures a pensioner couple surrounded by all generations from all walks of life coming together in the shape of Australia giving our older Australians support, dignity and security in their retirement for 100 years.

In 1908 the governments' Invalid and Old Aged Pension Act was introduced. This landmark legislation placed Australia at the forefront of social policy reform. It remains a constant and symbolic commitment to the welfare of others. In 1909 the age pension provided 65,500 aged pensioners with 10 shillings a week. It now supports more than 2 million aging Australians.

This aluminium bronze one dollar is the standard 9 gram, 25mm size released into circulation. The reverse legend states "1 Dollar Security Support Dignity Centenary of the Commonwealth Age Pension". The obverse Queen Elizabeth II portrait is the standard Ian Rank-Broadley design. At present the RAM states the mintage will be unlimited but as the annual report is released after the end of the financial year we will have a more definitive mintage number for this release. As well as being released into circulation these coins are available in RAM rolls. 20 one dollar coins wrapped in exclusive Royal Australian mint paper for issue price of $29.95.

2007 brought us a host of new releases and yet only one coin into circulation, the Apec dollar. If you're a dollar collector then you're wallet was looking quite a bit thinner at the end of 2007 with 13 different dollar designs. Continuing on after the 2 coloured releases of the Ocean Series of 2006 are 4 other fauna designs depicted by sculptor Tony Dean. If you wanted an uncirculated Mob of Roos dollar dated 2007 then the only way to obtain one was with the Bounding Roo PNC or the Mint Year Set. The Sydney Harbour Bridge dollar with the varying mintmarks was issued in individual small mintmark folders. The Ocean Series, Peacekeepers, Year of the Pig, Ashes and International Polar Year coins were all issued in a soft plastic capsule in a cardboard card. This year the Royal Australian Mint released circulation Apec dollars in rolls in comemmorative paper for collectors. There was also a limited release of uncirculated Apec dollars in capsules in a presentation box. These were originally for those attending the APEC summit but were available after to collectors.

Year	Description	Type	Mint Mark	Composition	Notes	Mintage
2007	Mob of Roos	Circulation	None	AlBr	PNC	37,100
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	C	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	184,907
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	C	AlBr	RAM Gallery Press	incl in above
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	C	AlBr	Portable Press Canberra Coin Fair	2,744
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	S	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	55,345
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	S shallow	AlBr	Portable Press Sydney Royal Easter Show	12,355
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	S	AlBr	PNC	tba
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	S	AlBr	PNC with silver overprint Sydney Stamp Expo	250
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	B	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	44,593
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	B shallow	AlBr	Portable Press Brisbane ANDA Show	3,997
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	B	AlBr	World Money Fair Berlin Overprinted Folder	2,502
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	M	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	40,079
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Circulation	M shallow	AlBr	Portable Press Melbourne ANDA Show	3,935
	Sydney Harbour Bridge	Proof	None	.999 Silver	Silver Proof Interrupted Reeding	9,500
	Apec	Circulation	None	AlBr	Circulation	20,108,000
	Apec	Circulation	None	AlBr	Encapsuled in presentation box	incl in above
	Apec	Circulation	None	AlBr	RAM Roll	incl in above
	Biscuit Starfish	Frosted Unc/Proof Rev	None	AlBr	Coloured Ocean Series	22,555
	Longfin Bannerfish	Frosted Unc/Proof Rev	None	AlBr	Coloured Ocean Series	22,551
	White Shark	Frosted Unc/Proof Rev	None	AlBr	Coloured Ocean Series	30,416
	Big Belly Seahorse	Frosted Unc/Proof Rev	None	AlBr	Coloured Ocean Series	24,666
	Australian Peacekeepers	Circulation	None	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	31,028
	Year of the Pig	Circulation	None	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	22,349
	Year of the Pig	Proof	None	.999 Silver	RAM and Dealer Sales	6,298
	The Ashes	Circulation	None	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	41,438
	The Ashes	Circulation	None	AlBr	PNC	8,000
	International Polar Year	Circulation	None	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	29,893
	Norman Lindsay	Circulation	None	Al Br	Magic Pudding Baby Mint Set	33,693
	Mob of Roos	Circulation	None	AlBr	Mint Set	66,641
	Mob of Roos	Circulation	None	AlBr	Berlin Money Fair Mint Set	1,500
	Year of the Surf Lifesaver	Proof	None	AlBr	Proof Set	30,516
	Mob of Roos	Proof	None	AlBr	Magic Pudding Baby Proof Set	12,417
	Mob of Roos	Specimen	None	AlBr	Wedding Set	2,629
	Year of the Surf Lifesaver	Proof	None	.999 Silver	Fine Silver Year Set	3,475
	Year of the Surf Lifesaver	Proof	None	.999 Gold	Commemorative Gold Set	300

In 2006 the Royal Australian Mint released the first of a new series bringing colourful designs to the standard one dollar circulating coin size. This pad printing method of colourising the coin surface was used briefly on the 2001 Centenary of Federation Proof one dollar and on other denominations and also other NCLT coinage. The first releases of this Ocean Series were the Bottlenose dolphin and the Clown fish. This fun and vibrant dollar series presents appeal to younger collectors and incorporates facinating marine life facts.

2006 Uncirculated Clown Fish
This Eastern Clown Anemonefish reminds us of the fish made famous in the movie "Finding Nemo". Two bright orange fish with white stripes swimming in the tentacles of sea anemone. These fish inhabit the entire waters of the Great Barrier Reef. Little known fact about the Clown fish is that the dominant male in a group can change sex when the dominant female dies!

2006 Uncirculated Bottlenose Dolphn
This coin depicts 2 Bottlenose Dolphins springing from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean in front of a perfect blue sky. These ocean mammals travel in pods and can eat up to 15kg of fish, shrimp and squid every day. Dolphins are intelligent creatures using sound waves to gather information about their environment. Mintage 29,949.

2007 Uncirculated Longfin Bannerfish
This tropical white fish with 2 black bands and yellow dorsal and tail fin is seen diving through a rich red coral reef. These fish act as cleaners removing parasites from other fish. Adult Longfin bannerfish can grow up to 25cm long and have trailing dorsal filaments that trail like a banner. Mintage 22,551.

2007 Uncirculated Biscuit Starfish
This bright vermillion coloured starfish with white lines inhabits rocky reefs and sheltered bays in coastal waters around Australia. It is an Australian native feeding on sea squits, sponges coral and algae. It is depicted on the one dollar attached to coral. Surrounding the "1" is a Biscuit Star smorgasboard. They have no heart or brain but have an eye on the end of each arm detecting light or dark. Mintage 22,555.

2007 Uncirculated Bigbelly Seahorse
This oddly shaped sea creature is depicted inhabiting shallow water sea grasses. It is a unique species in that the male becomes pregnant, carries eggs and gives birth to young. The seahorse can be found in shades of yellow, brown, orange, white or grey, adapting it's colour to the environment. They have a prehensile tail which allows them to hold onto objects. They can be found in the waters off south-eastern Australia. Mintage 24,666.

2007 Uncirculated White Shark
The Great White Shark leaps to life on this dollar coin swimming towards you (it's next meal), the sun's rays piercing the water's edge. This shark is the most feared sea creature on earth. The Great White Shark in fact features a grey or bronze back with a white belly. These sea creatures can weigh up to 3,000kg. Mintage 30,416.

The coloured designs are pad printed onto a flat unstruck surface on the coin and only some of the features are struck. The obverse is struck and the "1 Dollar" on the reverse with the background feature ie. Air bubbles on Clown Fish coin and water swirls on Bottlenose Dolphin is also struck. Have a read of our previos post about damage to pad printed coins and passing these off as error coins.

All of these coloured Ocean Series one dollar coins are the standard 25mm circulation type -but issued for the collector market and not intended for circualtion. They are aluminium bronze and weigh 9g. These coins are magnificenly depicted by RAM coin designer Tony Dean. All these coins were issued in a soft plastic capsule in an informative cardboard card for $14.95.

Question:

Hi. I am interested in your opinion on the future of counterstamps in Australian numismatics. I read your post from November 2008 on the difference between mintmarks, privymarks, and counterstamps and understand the difference between these marks. Do you anticipate that the RAM will continue releasing limited numbers of counterstamp coins for collectors at special events each year? Despite their limited numbers the 2008 coat of arms counterstamp coins do not demand particularly high prices (you can buy them on ebay for less than $10). What is your opinion on the future of counterstamps and what factors will influence their value over time? Thanks very much.

Answer:

Hi, It's like asking what will be the next issue that's a big winner like the VC dollar or The Ashes pnc, it's almost an impossible question. Things have changed recently at the RAM. Under the guidance of CEO Janine Murphy the mintmarks, privy marks and counterstamps were introduced so that it was easier to identify what was minted where. It was getting too confusing to differentiate mobile press and production press coins so these new names were introduced. Janine also chose the design for the C master mintmark which is the first time a mintmark (or stamp of any kind) has been put on a mob of roos dollar. Janine fell ill and the RAM has been under the guidance of acting CEO Graham Smith for over a year now. Strange how this year they didn't release many mintmarks, privy's or counterstamps and did not attend one show with the mobile press while under his guidance. This is very disappointing in my opinion. I'd suggest that introducing the mintmarks, counterstamps and privymarks was Janine's idea and will not be carried through with the zest that she would have wanted. Janine passed away last month so the direction the RAM will take is yet to be seen. They will need to appoint a permanent CEO which no doubt will have his/her own ideas on the direction of releases. I think some of the lower mintage counterstamps have yet to realise their true value. But this may not be seen for a nuber of years yet. With any big money making coin it is usually seen in the first 6 months of issue if it's a winner. You've also got to be very lucky to pick the coin that is going to be profittable. I picked the master mintmark c counterstamp as a rare coin but only because the RAM limited availability to those who could attend the RAM over 3 days and strike the coin themselves. They then changed the rules by making limited numbers available to dealers. A coin such as the Perth Mint Redback spider coin legal tender of Tuvalu has had a massive increase in price since it's issue, tell me why people want a redback spider coin that isn't even legal tender of Australia? There are so many released and they are all artificially 'rare', the collector market can't and won't support all of these 'rarities' at high prices. It's hit and miss I'm afraid. I hope I have answered at least some of your questions here. Kind Regards, The australian-threepence.com team

Reader response:

Hi. Thanks very much for your thorough and thoughtful response. I feel it was an important step by the RAM to define mintmarks, privy marks, and counterstamps and to give them a distinct role in coin production as I agree with you that it was getting confusing to differentiate between coins. I also feel that if the use of counterstamps continues in association with one or two products annually and in the same limited numbers that have been released to date, the counterstamp has the potential to become a highly sought after feature. But as you mentioned it is very difficult to predict which issue will be a big winner and this is just my feeling at this point. My understanding is that for the 2009 $1 Master Mintmark Counterstamp it was available for 3 days at the RAM and coin dealers were given an allocation of no more than 50 coins each, giving a total mintage of around 6000 coins. I would be interested in knowing if you have different information on mintage numbers. This is significantly less than the mintages of other sought after $1 coins... 1. 1990 kangaroo mint set only - mintage 106,218 - current catalogue value $45 2. 1992 barcelona olympics - total mintage over 150,000 including mint sets - CV around $75 3. 2000 VC - mintage almost 100,000 - CV $300 4. 2000 last anzacs PNC - mintage 47,830 - CV $130 5. 2003 vietnam - mintage 57,000 - CV $50 5. 2007 Ashes PNC - mintage 8,000 - CV $160 Based on mintage alone you would expect the 2009 Master Mintmark Counterstamp to increase in value to at least match any of the above. I wondered if the reason the RAM did not attend coin shows this year was because they were told to cut expenses after the federal budget suddenly went from massive surplus to massive deficit. Maybe they will only offer one counterstamp product released at the RAM in Canberra for the next few years. I hope they do continue with counterstamps as I like the way the mint your own coins engage collectors in the minting process. I am very interested in seeing what direction the mint will take in relation to counterstamps and the value these coins have over the next few years. Thanks for the discussion and I look forward to hearing any other thoughts you may have on this topic. Kind regards

Answer:

Hi, We can only wait and see the RAM annual report to confirm mintages but what you suggest about the Master mintmark counterstamp seems about right. I don't expect the master mintmark C counterstamp to do any significant price movement now as the initial demand is well and truly over, the price should be settling a bit now. You haven't even talked about the overprinted folders such as the brisbane coin fair or the berlin show overprints which are no special coin, just packaging. Have you heard of the term "packyboxitis"? Are you a member of the *ACBO Forum -Australian Coins and Banknotes Online? They would definitely appreciate some discussion of this. Lots of knowledgeable folk there. It will be interesting to see over the coming year what changes are implemented at the RAM. Cheers, The australian-threepence.com blog team

*edit 9/9/12 The ACBO forum is now inactive, please visit The Australian Coin Forum

Picture this, you get some change from the local Subway after buying some lunch, and you look down at your change to see if there's anything valuable or unusual in your change (you do look don't you?) and something catches your eye. That 20c piece has two heads! You've just struck it rich, a coin worth thousands found in your change! Or have you? Sadly, almost certainly not. Genuine double headed or double tailed coins do exist but firstly they are very rare, and secondly the chances of one ending up in general circulation is almost nil. Why? Well because by the very nature of the way coins are made the chance of a coin being minted by accident with two obverse or reverse dies are basically nothing. In the US mint for example it is actually impossible to fit a reverse die into the obverse side of the coin press and vice verse! Don't get me wrong, these 'errors' do exist but in Australia they are due to mint production staff deliberately installing two reverse or obverse dies into a coin press and making a few 'error' coins. I imagine that most of the time these 'errors' are destroyed but sometimes by means fair or foul they get onto the market for collectors to obtain. The chances that these trials (or perhaps errors deliberately made to sell) ended up in general circulation coins for you and I to spend are therefore minuscule. A genuine double sided coin in pristine uncirculated condition can fetch from $2000-$4000 at auction depending on the denomination of the coin.

OK let's get back to the fake double headed or double tailed coins. These do exist and are not too hard to find. This is apparent by the fact that we have many questions from the readers of this blog about double tailed/headed coins that they've found or have been in possession of for some time. We'd say that out of all the questions we've had about this type of coin, that exactly one may have been genuine. The first reason is that almost all of them have been heavily circulated and as I mentioned above these coins just would almost never get into circulation. The second reason is that with a genuine double headed/tailed Australian coin the two sides are always 180 degrees rotated from each other. This is because of the way dies are designed, if you put an obverse die into the reverse side of a coin press it will be rotated 180 degrees and the same thing happens with the reverse die. So what are these fake errors called? The most common name is a magician's coin. So how are these coins made? I am aware of a couple of methods which you can see below.

The first and most crude method (shown above) is to simply take two coins that are the same and cut the coin in half through the plane of the coin and then stick the two sides together. This could be done on a milling machine or lathe by any reasonably competent person. The main problem with this method is that there will always be a visible seam around the edge of the coin.

The second (and more common) method is illustrated above. One coin is cut in half and then the rim removed from that half. The other coin has the same part of the coin machined out with precisely the same diameter as the first part with the rim left intact which provides a cylindrical receptacle for the first part. Both of these operations could again be carried out with a lathe or milling machine and if the tolerances are fine enough the two parts can be fitted together with a barely perceptible seam in a corner. This machining operation is a little more difficult to perform and I can only wonder that more of these types of fakes are around because they are presented as challenge pieces to apprentices to test their skills on their machines!

There we have it, double headed/tailed coins, how to determine if yours might be a real one, and how the fake ones are made. If you've got a coin that you think is real then by all means take it to a coin dealer and let them take a look at it. It's usually very hard to pick well made fakes from a photo so having the coin in hand may well be the only way to determine if a coin is real. Even then more rigorous inspection techniques may be required to determine a genuine error from a truly skillfully made fake, this may include a dye penetrant test or even x-raying the coin.

2006 saw the 40th anniversary of the introduction of decimal currency in 1966. To celebrate this, the coins in the Fine Silver Year Set with the original Arnold Machin effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. The coloured series of dollars were first available in 2006 and were commenced with the Ocean Series with 2 issues and continued through 2007. We also had Melbourne hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2006 a dollar coin (plus a large number of 50c coins) were released to celebrate this. A Mob of Roos dollar was the standard circulation coin of 2006 and there were no commemorative dollars issued for circulation for that year. The 50 Years of Television dollar was the mintmark coin for 2006 with portable press issues as well as heavy press issues with the differing mintmarks.

Year	Description	Type	Mint Mark	Composition	Notes	Mintage
2006	Mob of Roos	Circulation	None	AlBr	Circulation	38,691,000
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	C	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	135,221
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	C	AlBr	RAM Gallery Press	unknown
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	S	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	37,811
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	S shallow	AlBr	Portable Press Sydney Royal Easter Show	10,679
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	B	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	40,717
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	B shallow	AlBr	Portable Press Brisbane Agricultural Show	6,511
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	M	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	31,364
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	M shallow	AlBr	Portable Press Royal Melbourne Show	8,236
	50yrs of TV	Circulation	TV	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	46,370
	50yrs of TV	Proof	None	.999 Silver	Silver Proof Interrupted Reeding	10,790
	50yrs of TV	Proof	A	.999 Silver	ANDA Show release	3,859
	Commonwealth Games	Circulation	M	AlBr	RAM and Dealer Sales	58,505
	Clown Fish	Frosted Unc/Proof Rev	None	AlBr	Coloured Ocean Series	29,743
	Bottlenose Dolphin	Frosted Unc/Proof Rev	None	AlBr	Coloured Ocean Series	29,949
	Mob of Roos	Circulation	None	Al Br	Magic Pudding Baby Mint Set	32,095
	Mob of Roos	Circulation	None	AlBr	Mint Set	84,407
	Mob of Roos	Circulation	None	AlBr	Berlin Money fair Mint Set	1,500
	Mob of Roos	Circulation	None	AlBr	Canberra ANDA Fair Mint Set	1,500
	Mob of Roos	Proof	None	AlBr	Proof Set	45,373
	Mob of Roos	Proof	None	AlBr	Magic Pudding Baby Proof Set	15,127
	Mob of Roos	Specimen	None	AlBr	Wedding Set	2,752
	Mob of Roos: With original Arnold Machin obverse	Proof	None	.999 Silver	Fine Silver Year Set	5,829
	Mob of Roos	Proof	None	.999 Gold	Commemorative Gold Set	300

This joint RAM / Australia Post PNC celebrated the original Stuart Devlin designed Australian dollar which is affectionately known as the 'mob of roos' dollar. Issued on December 3rd 2007 (very late for a 2007 issue) this PNC had a mintage of 37,100. This PNC and the 2007 mint set are the only way to get an uncirculated mob of roos dollar for 2007. The circulating dollar for that year was the Apec dollar.

The PNC, issued at $19.95, also contained a stamp featuring 5 kangaroos at sunset and all the PNC's are postmarked "Kangaroo Ground VIC 3097 3 December 2007". Kangaroo Ground is a town north east of Melbourne, Victoria. The envelope contains a descriptive card which encapsulates the coin.

Thanks to a fellow blog reader and ACBO (Australian coin and banknote online) forum member for a tip on an informative TV show "Postcards Australia" shown on channel nine.
It's quite interesting viewing, a story shown on October 17th 2009 about The Royal Australian Mint and recent refurbishments so I thought it worthy of sharing. Click on the 20c piece in the link to watch the story.

This comemmorative one dollar marked 100 years since the introduction of the Australian Quarantine Act. The act provides legislation for human, plant and animal activites throughout Australia. It also provides protection at our borders guarding us from potential agricultural disasters caused by the accidental introduction of exotic pests and diseases into the country. It is enormously important for our primary industries to be supported by this act shielding their livelihoods from foreign pests and diseases not found in our country.

This $1 acknowledged the remarkable work, commitment and achievements of thousands of our border security staff who protect us inspecting mail, cargo, air and sea passengers, live animals, imports and exports. Protective services also use Beagles and Labradors in their fight to detect and destroy potential harm before it enters the country. You can find these AQIS detector dogs at airports, mail centres and sea ports.

A Beagle is depicted on the Centenary of Quarantine dollar hovering around luggage shaped as Australia, this design was sculpted by Wojciech Pietranik. It's interesting to note that the stickers on the luggage identify key hazard and protection issues. The reverse states "Centenary of Quarantine 1908-2008 1 Dollar". The obverse features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. This uncirculated dollar is encapsulated in an informative card and was issued for collectors and not intended to circulate. It is however the standard aluminium bronze 25mm size weighing 9g with edge interrupted reeding. Issue price was $12.95 with a mintage of 24,146 coins.

Seen below is the Quarantine $1 which was also issued in a joint RAM/Australia Post PNC for $16.95 with a mintage of 21,600.

2007 brought saw the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge has become a national icon for Australia recognised all over the world. It was opened on 19th March 1932 after 8 years of construction with planning beginning in 1912.

At it's highest point the bridge measures 134 meters high and spans 503 meters with a total length of 1150 meters. At 49 meters wide the expanse of the bridge truly makes it an international visitor attraction. The bridge was built from each side with approach spans erected first then a main arch. Both sides of the arch were joined on August 19th 1930 much to the admiration of Sydneysiders. The road deck was then hung from the arch. The bridge contains 52,800 tonnes of steelwork and 17,000 tonnes of granite. The arch itself weighs 39,000 tonnes.

The joining of the two sides is the design depicted on the one dollar coin by Wojciech Pietranik. The obverse carries the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. There were a lot of differing mint mark issues of the Sydney Harbour Bridge dollar released in 2007. The Royal Australian Mint brought their portable press to many venues throughout the year, including the Capital Collectables Show in Canberra, Sydney Royal Easter Show, Brisbane ANDA show and Melbourne ANDA show. Coins struck on the portable press show a shallower strike than those struck on the main production presses at the RAM. A B mintmark coin in folder was overprinted for the World Money fair in Berlin. There have been a few examples arise of coins accidently struck without a mintmark, these demand quite a high premuim.

All mint mark coins discussed above were struck in aluminium bronze weighing 9 grams. They are the standard circulation dollar size of 25mm in diameter but were not released into circulation. An S mintmark coin was available in a joint Australia Post/RAM PNC (postal numismatic cover). A pure silver proof dollar without a mintmark was also released in a presentation case for $40.

The commemorative one dollar coin released by the Royal Australian Mint featuring various mintmarks in 2006 was the 50 years of Australian Television coin. On September 16 1956 Bruce Gyngell first appeared on Australian TV making media history uttering those now famous words "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to Television". NSW and Victoria were the first states to watch TV, just in time for the broadcast of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games with the other states following on. Of course this was black and white TV as colour didn't appear until March 1975.

With the standard 25mm diameter and aluminium bronze composition this 9g dollar designed by Vladimir Gottwald was not issued for circulation; you won't find one in your change (of course that is unless someone removed theirs from it's protective folder and spent it for $1!). It features the standard Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

This coin was struck with S, B and M mintmarks at corresponding Royal shows in capital cities as well as production (heavy) press examples of each of these. The C mintmark was available as the heavy production press C mm and also could be pressed at the visitors gallery presses at the RAM in Canberra. Also issued in uncirculated aluminium bronze from the RAM was the TV mintmark TV dollar struck on the production presses at the RAM. This was the first issue where the mintmark didn't refer to an origin or capital city.

A silver proof Television dollar was issued in 2006. A general issue with no mintmark and an A mintmark issue was released at the ANDA coin fairs in 2006. There is much speculation over the release of this A mintmark. It was intended to either be an A for Australia mintmark of an A for ANDA mintmark. The A mintmark was to be released at each ANDA coin fair in the country in 2006, thus the idea of it being an A for ANDA mintmark. A mintage of 1500 was to be released at each fair and would give a total mintage of 6000 coins. However McDonald's Guide (Australian Coins and Banknotes 16th ed by Greg McDonlad) states a mintage of only 3,859 coins. Personally I believed there was only the initial 1500 released at the Canberra ANDA show before a problem forced the issue to be abandoned. If anyone has some different information please contact admin@australian-threepence.com and I'd be happy to ammend this information as we strive for accuracy.

We were lucky enough to receive some comments from a reader of the blog who has some experience as a copper artist and also happens to be a coin collector. His comments were in response to the recent post about PCGS and Perth Minted Australian Copper. His comments can be found below.

Hi, Regarding the October 09 article on PCGS gradings and rainbow copper coins. While my following comments should not be in any way taken as an accusation I think the reason that PCGS is not inclined to accept such rainbow coins as "genuine" is this "Rainbow Effect" can be brought about with fresh copper by the simple use of a Blow Torch. I know this because I use to do Copper Art at one time as a hobby. There is also a chemical that can be purchased that is sold in Craft Shops that will also give "rainbow" effects to fresh copper. Personally as a Coin Collector and ex copper art artist I am always very wary of any "Rainbow Copper Coins". That is not to say they don't come about this way purely by natural means. However, I can well understand PCGS being nervous to put their name to such coins. Great photography and very intersting article.

Our Response:

Thanks for your input regarding this, we strive to post accurate information from reputable sources. Would you mind if we post your comments (anonymously of course) as a potential cause of this effect? In the USA artificial toning is common practice so I realise it must be difficult. The whole idea of the article is that it is well known by Aussie numismatists that Perth copper does come in spectacular colours and PCGS should be aware of this.

The learned gent was kind enough to reply again:

Like you say there are natural processes where copper will go those rainbow colours by its own accord. However, it is more rare than common as the pennies/half/pennies are not completely copper as you realise they are a form of bronze with two additional metals. It becomes much more difficult for bronze to reach that colour level. The more pure the copper the easier the colour. Annealed will show those colours in areas when heated. If you ever watch a Gas Fitter at work you'll see the copper tubes go multi-colour while using brazing torch etc. Too much heat and the copper will go almost dark/brown/purplish. It is an interesting subject and as I said originally there is no intention on my behalf to say it doesn't happen naturally with Perth Mint Copper Coins. Just suggesting a reason why PCGS might be reluctant to accept same.

So here we have some reasons why PCGS might reject rainbow toned coins, and given the huge premiums rainbow toned US copper coins can garner I can understand this caution. Of course this doesn't apply to most Australian copper, rainbow toned copper are usually later common date coins and of low catalogue value. Also, while Australian rainbow toned coins can command a small premium over their more plain brethren it is never very much, a few tens of dollars at most, and one wonders if it is worth 'doctoring' a coin for such a small benefit.

There's some other things to take into account too. Firstly, rainbow toned Perth copper isn't common, it is much easier to find reddish or brown Perth copper and very nicely rainbow toned coins are quite scarce. Secondly, rainbow toned Melbourne minted copper is almost non existent in comparison to Perth minted material. If someone was out there doctoring coins why are they only doing it to Perth minted material and not those coins minted in Melbourne? The answer of course is that in almost every case the toning is natural and a result of the different ways planchets were prepared in the two mints and the way the coins were struck! For example, why are Perth minted coins so often found with spotting and Melbourne coins not? The Perth mint washed their planchets (before or after striking I am not sure) and the Melbourne mint did not! Secondly, Melbourne minted copper coins of the 1950's and 1960's are, on the whole, much more strongly struck than Perth coins, and it is my experience that the most eye popping rainbow toned coins are also the worst struck coins the Perth mint released!

Now none of this is intended to dis-credit the kind reader of this blog whose comments are found above. After all if you read his responses you'll see that he's not suggesting that rainbow toned Perth copper is artificially toned, but rather why PCGS might think it is artificially toned. My responses to his post have just pointed out to PCGS why rainbow toned Perth copper coins are almost always naturally toned. They are not fiddled with or manipulated like their American brethren can be. Here's hoping someone out there can educate them and we can get these lovely coins protected and graded by a good third party grading company!

We picked up an impulse heat sealer (seen above) recently (on eBay for approx $95) and have been testing it sealing coins into pages and flips. A heat sealer can be used to seal plastics such as Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene (PE) and Polyethylene Terephalate (PET). We purchased a heat sealer so we can use it also to seal complete pages as well as the flips themselves. So far we have had excellent results. It uses inductive heating so there is no continuously heated element using less power and is safer to operate than a sealer with a continuously heated element. It simply heats a thin aluminium wire by induction for a short period depending on the setting selected and cools rapidly. It is a very simple and quick process which does not seem to emit any vapour or smells. These sorts of plastics are generally stable and dont contain any chlorine or softeners so when they're heated they don't release noxious vapours (unlike PVC).

We sealed Saflips which are made from PET. These are double pocket flips. The second pocket is for a paper insert for labelling of your coin but we've found using it for a second coin and cutting the flip in half is a very cost effective storage solution. The cost of saflips is comparable with the cost of cardboard 2x2's so using them for 2 coins halves this cost. When sealing a coin in a saflip you need to ensure the coin isn't too big or bulging in the flip. The area to be sealed needs to be flat to allow for a neat airtight seal. Below are coins sealed into a single 2inch x 2inch Saflip.

The heat sealer we purchased was a larger size which will seal up to 40cm. This would be perfect to seal in a whole page of coins without even the cardboard 2x2 or flip. Just slot the coins into the 20 pockets in the page and seal along the top of each row. Of course then the coins can't be removed or changed position without destroying the page. If you have a complete set or are happy with how the coins lay out then the cost for safe storage will be minimal. If you store the coins directly in the page with no 2x2 or flip then that cost is removed also with an acceptable option. When sealing the page as shown above, just sealing the opening in the page is not always the airtight option. Neither of the Purple Penny, Ultra Pro or BCW Polypropylene pages will give you a proper airtight seal as they are not sealed completely around the entire coin pocket. Storing a coin in a 2x2 will not give you an airtight seal, sealing the Saflip is the only option for an airtight seal.

Above you can see two lovely rainbow Perth copper coins that were submitted to PCGS for grading. My apologies for the quality of the image of the half penny, I didn't get a chance to image the coin before it was sent away and getting the rainbow toning to show up through the coin slab is problematic at best. Both of the coins show very typical Perth rainbow toning that is so valued by some collectors. Colours appearing are very typical, brown, gold, blue green, reds, and even hints of violet.

The coin on the left was broken from an original bank roll immediately before being sent to PCGS, the one on the right came out of a push in coin album where it had sat for a number of years. Sadly, the penny on the left came back graded as "Genuine" with the code 91, which means 'Questionable Colour'. The one on the right came back as MS65RB. I'd like to say definitively why PCGS rejected the coin on the left and accepted the one on the right, but I simply cannot. A month after the penny was rejected I am still scratching my head as to why. It is a lovely coin with glossy surfaces, well struck for a Perth coin, and exhibits attractive rainbow toning. The half penny fits the same description exactly. And because of this I sent the half penny to be graded immediately after the penny to see if it too was rejected. Inexplicably it wasn't!

The only theory I have is that one or more graders at PCGS simply do not have enough experience with Australian coins, and Perth minted copper coins in particular. These rainbow toned coins are completely original and un-tampered with and deserve to be graded as the GEM coins that some of them are. There's probably not a lot we can do in the short term to educate PCGS. However there are dealers in Australia that submit many dozens of coins to PCGS and I am sure that with emails or phone calls to the right people at PCGS would result in PCGS being educated appropriately.

The warning for Australian collectors who are thinking of submitting rainbow toned Perth minted copper coins to PCGS is be aware that despite the beauty and originality of your coins, there is some chance that they may be deemed as having 'Questionable Colour' and will not receive a grade. It's times like these that a possible submission of these coins to NGC is in order, NGC has more world coin slabbing experience than PCGS and will most likely slab them with a grade rather than as artificially toned.

If you're into collecting PCGS graded coins at all then you're almost certainly aware that PCGS (and the other major third party grading companies) grade mint state copper coins with a colour code. These colour codes (RD for red, RB for red brown, and BN for brown) try to describe the colour of a coin, but a coin is far too complex a beast to be able to be described with a simple two letter code. So, lets take a look at a few coins.

One of the coins above has been designated as RB (red brown) and the other as RD (red). Which is which?

Is the coin on the left a RD or RB coin? What about the one on the right, RB or BN (brown)? What does RB really mean anyway?

The coin on the left is an attractive rainbow half penny oozing eye appeal, the one on the right an even brown coin. Both are designated as RB and one is graded 1 point higher than the other. Which is the higher grade and which is more desirable?

I've answered all these questions (and several more) over on the Purple Penny website, in the new article PCGS Graded Australian Copper Coins and Colour Codes. It is well worth the read for anyone interested in collecting or buying slabbed Australian copper coins.

Question:

Hi, Why do you find the self adhesive 2x2 coin holders harmful to the coin. I know people are unsure of what the glue is made from but ive used them on a majority of my coins and the seal on them is great and they sit in my albums and none have popped open. I even pulled one out of the folder and tried to pry open the holder to see if the adhesive had become unbonded in anyway and it was still tightly stuck together. I don't like staples purely because they can scratch ( i know you can use pliers to flatten them) and the staples overtime will rust. Just interested to get your opinion because if i find that my collection is in danger due to the self adhesive on the holders then i will have to consider re holdering them (which should be alot of fun work hehe) Kind Regards

Answer:

I have seen many many adhesive 2x2's lose their "togetherness" and expose the coin to the elements. Some coins I have received in the post have had the coin in the open adhesive 2x2, the coin stuck to the adhesive. I have heard stories of coins dropping to the floor and being damaged from 2x2's opening up. I have seen stock at coin shops and shows in opened adhesive holders. It's not known what the adhesive does to the coins. It will certainly leave a residue on the coin if it's in contact with it, this will create toning. I prefer to leave all that questionable adhesive behind and use staple 2 x2 's. You can get flat clinching staplers that leave the staple flat and I just take a bit of care when holdering up the coin. I don't think there can be to much issue with the actual staples as they are metal..and...so is the coin! I reholdered my entire mintmark dollar collection last year, it was a big job, getting rid of the pvc pages as well as the adhesive 2x2's - some of the coins were ruined due to pvc damage. I'm surprised you haven't had ANY 2x2's come open, maybe it's the humidity or something where you live. Regards, The australian-threepence.com team

Please note that in the interest of anonymity we always remove names so that we can share our questions and answers with everyone.

This commemorative standard one dollar coin was not issued into circulation by the Royal Australian Mint. It is the circulation size 9g 25mm aluminium bronze of the one dollar denomiation but was only issued in the 2007 Year Proof set. This is the only way to obtain one of these AlBr dollars and it was only struck to proof standard.

2007 was named the Year of the Lifesaver honouring our national lifesaving force of 113,000 members patrolling our beaches and keeping swimmers safe. Our devoted members have saved 500,000 lives during the past 100 years. This dollar honours the commitment of those men and women and is the dedicated theme of the mint and proof sets of 2007. A comemmorative 20c was also issued during that year and can be found in the mint set and on a PNC.

The image depicted by designer Tony Dean on the one dollar coin is of 3 lifesavers undertaking a dramatic team rescue of a troubled swimmer in the sometimes harsh conditions of Australia's beaches. The reverse features the standard Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. Both silver and gold proof versions of this coin have been issued in the fine silver and gold year sets of 2007.

We've just written a pretty comprehensive article on what it means to have a coin graded by PCGS, how it is certified, and how PCGS records and tabulates the data about coins it has graded. It's available over on the the Purple Penny website and is titled Understanding PCGS slabbing, certification and the Population Report. Please take the time to head over and give it a read!