The 1999 International Year of Older Persons one dollar coin was released jointly by the Royal Australian Mint and Australia Post in a PNC. PNC is short for postal and numismatic cover which is a release incorporating a coin and stamp issue.

Further details about the coin included in this PNC can be found in the entry "Australian Dollar Coins - 1999 International Year of Older Persons One Dollar". The reverse was designed by Wojciech Pietranik and this coin can be found in circulation. The obverse is the standard portrait of QEII by Ian Rank-Broadley.

56,065 of these PNC's were issued on February 11th 1999 for just $3.95 each. As well as the standard circulation one dollar coin, the PNC includes two 45c stamps cancelled at Caloundra, Qld 4551 on the first day of issue.

If you're a collector of PNC's you might find our Complete Guide to PNC Issues Coin and Stamp Covers entry of interest.

Another special ballot issue on offer from the Royal Australian Mint is the tiny 1/10 ounce gold ten dollar coin depicting the mintmark design for 2011 George Kruger Gray's Shilling Ram. At just 17.53mm this gold proof coin is limited to 2,500 issued. With the expectation of high collector interest the Mint has only made these coins available to collectors via a ballot system similar to what has been used for the $25 kangaroo at sunset coins.

The ballot form will arrive with the March Mint Issue and must be returned to the Mint by March 31st with the draw to take place on April 3rd. Entrants to the ballot must be on the Mint's mailing list and enter with an original ballot form with only one entry valid per customer.

If your ballot is successful you will have the chance to purchase one of these proof gold coins for $265. To bring that back into perspective for coin collectors vs. gold bullion collectors that equates to $138.42 in gold (correct at 27/2/2011).

The Royal Australian Mint has advised collectors that they will be attending the Brisbane ANDA Coin and Banknote Show with the mobile coin press. The show is to be held at the Brisbane Table Tennis Centre, Windsor on 21-22 May 2011. The mobile coin press will strike B Counterstamps onto pre-struck aluminium bronze Shilling Ram one dollar coins as a show exclusive.

Update 25/5/2011: The Brisbane ANDA show was held last weekend, read the wrap-up article 2011 Brisbane ANDA Coin, Note and Stamp Show.

Here at blog central we've been experimenting for years now with camera setup and lighting to try and capture the most out of coins. The copystand holds a digital slr camera and some newly purchased lights with some powerful globes now topping off the setup. My partner will be starting shortly on a series of lighting articles but since he's taken some fantastic images in the last few days I just had to put them up. This series I've titled "a pretty penny".

A rather interesting type of coinage was issued by the Dutch from their East Indies colony in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was the so called 'bonk' coinage. Cut from oval or rectangular copper bars known as 'bonks' (meaning 'large piece' in Dutch) the irregular lozenge shaped bonk coinage was usually stamped with a year and denomination. It was an emergency or stopgap issue designed to quickly and cheaply supply coinage to a colony that was rich with trade yet short on coinage. The reasons for the shortage of coinage in the East Indies were strongly linked to the political upheavals in the parent Netherlands from 1795 through to 1815. Political turmoil in the Netherlands during the period of mintage of Bonks included the end of the Dutch Republic in 1795, the formation and collapse of the French Batavian Republic from 1795 to 1806, and the founding of the French puppet Kingdom of Holland from 1806-1813. This Kingdom ended with the defeat of Napolean at Leipzig in 1813 and was succeeded by the independent Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 which only ceased to exist in 1949.

During the period of the puppet Kingdom of Holland the Netherlands actually lost control of the East Indies Colonies completely to the British (in 1810), but Dutch rule was re-established in 1814. One can imagine that during this 20 years of chaos that the supply of coinage to a colony several thousand miles away would have been far from the minds of government officials. Thus the East Indies had to rely on countertamped coinage of other countries and colonies as well as locally minted currency.

The bonk coinage was made in preference to milled round coinage in times of immediate need because they were much cheaper and easier to make. Manufactured in Batavia (Java), they were cut from copper rods which varied greatly in size and were generally imported from Japan. Denominations issued included the 1/2 Stuiver, 1 Stuiver, 2 Stuiver, and 8 Stuivers. The weights of the coins varied considerably as quality control was poor and the stuiver was continually being de-valued, however the bonks made in the late 18th century massed about 20g of copper for a single stuiver and 45g for a 2 stuiver. Those bonks made later were lighter, down to 19g for a stuiver in 1805 and to 15g for one minted in 1818-9. This effectively devalued the stuiver against the Dutch Guilder (the normal rate was 20 stuivers to the guilder and ended up being 24 stuivers to the guilder in later years).

Copper bonk coins were minted in 3 distinct periods, 1796 to 1806 (under the Batavian Republic), 1807 to 1810 (under the Kingdom of Holland), and 1818-1819 (under the Kingdom of Netherlands). Many varieties existed but generally those minted prior to 1818 displayed the value in a pearled or dotted border on one side and the date in a similar border on the other. Those minted in 1818-1819 displayed the value on one side without a border and the date on the other in a lined rectangle. The coins minted earlier can be quite rare and valuable while the later dates are a little more common. Collectors should be aware that being pure copper these coins can attain a green patina (as distinct to harmful verdigris).

References:

Bruce II, Colin R. and Michael, Thomas (2006) Standard Catalog of World Coins (1801-1900). Iola Wisconsin, USA : Krause Publications

Bucknill, John (2000) The Coins of The East Indies : and introduction to the study of the series. New Dehli, India : Asian Educational Services.

Netherlands Indies Gulden In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_Indies_gulden

The Netherlands In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands

Released by the Royal Australian Mint in tandem with the Rosella one dollar this is the second coin minted in the Air Series.

Following the successful 2006-7 Ocean Series and the 2008-9 Land Series coins the Kookaburra is the second for 2011 in the latest Air Series of (6) one dollar coins.

This Kookaburra dollar is a pad-printed coloured coin with a Kookaburra on the reverse designed by Caitlin Goodall. Struck to uncirculated quality with a frosted finish in aluminium bronze this coin is housed in a capsule with descriptive card. It is the standard 25mm circulation size but is not a circulating design. Instead it is termed NCLT or non-circulating legal tender, coins targeted at collectors and these I'm sure at avid bird lovers. Legal tender for $1 this coin is issued $14.95, the mintage can be found in the 2011 mintages table. The obverse is the standard design of Queen Elizabeth II that we see on Australian currency by Ian Rank-Broadley. See the other issues in the Air Series.

Complementing the 2006-7 Ocean Series and the 2008-9 Land Series coins by the Royal Australian Mint the Rosella is the first for 2011 in the latest Air Series of (6) one dollars. Collectors thought this set had been dumped from production but the first coin in this Air Series is sure to be a collectors delight. These circulation type dollars are often more sought by collectors in comparison to larger sized coins with differing compositions. I guess one can relate to those coins similar to what you'll find in change.

This Rosella dollar is a pad-printed coloured coin with a stunning Crimson Rosella on the reverse designed by Caitlin Goodall. Struck to uncirculated quality with a frosted finish in aluminium bronze this coin is housed in a capsule which snaps tightly into a descriptive cardboard card. It is the standard 25mm circulation size but is not a circulating design. Instead it is termed NCLT, a coin targeted at collectors and I'm sure avid bird lovers. Legal tender for $1 this coin is issued at $14.95, the mintage can be found in the 2011 mintages table. The obverse is the standard design of Queen Elizabeth II that we see on Australian currency by Ian Rank-Broadley.

See the other issues in the Air Series.

We've also reported before that it's very easy to manipulate the surfaces of these coloured coins so it appears you have a mint error coin. A smart collector is an educated collector so have a read of our previous articles: RAM Coloured Coin Issues -buyer beware and RAM Coloured Coin Issues -buyer beware: part 2

Question:

I collect alot of PNC Covers. And reading your articles I have become very worried about my collection. I have purchased many PNC & Medallion Cover Protectors from Australia Post. So do you know if these covers are safe or are they PVC. Currently when you buy these they are already inside theses clear Cover Proctectors. Your help will be very grateful.

Answer:

Hi, The clear plastic covers that PNC's are sold in by Australia Post are made from PVC. It's best that you remove them from these covers and store them separately. If you want to store your PNC's in an album I'd recommend the Vario 2c pages from Lighthouse. Otherwise most types of zip lock food storage bags are great, these are made from safe polyethylene and are available in all different sizes. A small cardboard shoebox with some silica gel to absorb moisture will also do the trick. Kind Regards,

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

Warning: we do not, and never will ever, ever, ever recommend cleaning coins. Doing so can easily damage a coin and remove 10's, 100's, or even 1000's of dollars of value in just a few short seconds. Please consider this before continuing to read this article.

An industrial chemist who frequents the Coin Community Forum noticed a recurring problem among collectors of copper coins. Namely how to remove the verdigris that so plagues copper and bronze coins that haven't been stored properly. Taking this as a challenge he spent several years developing a safe verdigris removal fluid that supposedly can safely help to remove verdigris and debris from coins as well as providing a level of surface protection that will help preserve the coin into the future. The product, known as Verdi-Care isn't available in Australia but we've managed to get hold of some and decided to run a short experiment on a couple of coins we had laying about to see how this product performed. We should note that Verdi-Care styles itself as an "all metal" conservation fluid but at this time we've decided to stick with some bronze coins to see how it performs on those.

The Coins

We decided to trial the product on a 1966 2c and a 1966 1c that had just been broken out of a 1966 Carded Mint Set. The coins both had visible green discolouration to the rims and clearly had to be removed to save them. The coins can be seen below.

The discolouration to the rims was actually quite green (it looks blackish in the images) and certainly would usually consign a low value coin to the scrap bucket. However, given these coins were nice UNC examples otherwise we decided to try to remove the green from each coin. To put a 'control' aspect into the experiment we decided to treat the 1c with acetone, an organic solvent that is considered to be quite safe to use on coins to remove organic substances like skin oils and debris. The 2c we decided to treat with Verdi-Care.

Treatment Method

1. Placed both coins in a clean glass container.
2. Add enough of the treatment medium (acetone or Verdi-Care) to just cover the coin.
3. Allow to rest for 5 minutes in the treatment medium.
4. Remove coin from medium and work green stain around gently with a wooden tooth pick.
5. Put back in treatment fluid for a further 2 minutes.
4. Remove each coin from medium and rinse with distilled water.
5. Gently pat each coin dry with soft paper towel.

Of course we took care to use safety precautions with both treatment fluids, gloves were worn and were were careful not to inhale fumes or splash the fluids about.

Observations

You can see images of the treated coins above. The 2c shows some discolouration in the region where the green stain was originally on the coin. Generally lustre of the coin has improved slightly. The 1c shows no observable discolouration where the green stain was, the lustre and overall colour of the coin appears largely unchanged.

Conclusions

In this case we'd say that acetone was the superior treatment. This may be because the green stain was not actually verdigris but rather some sort of "green slime" that was easily removed with a solvent. Perhaps the carded mint set these coins came from was stored in close proximity to PVC for a period of time and some of the PVC softeners leached through the very thin plastic protecting the coins in the mint set. Perhaps this was an unfair test, next time we'll put Verdi-Care up against acetone on a coin that has real, hard, encrusted verdigris.

If you'd like to catch up on the varieties of the 2011 Shilling Ram one dollar P counterstamp, check out our previous article Important 2011 P Counterstamp Ram Dollar Coin Varieties Surface.

News just to hand is that some of the P counterstamp coins were in fact stamped with the P in Canberra on the mobile coin press before it travelled to Perth for the ANDA Coin and Banknote Show. The Royal Australian Mint has confirmed that to meet the 5,000 mintage some coins were counterstamped in Canberra and and the balance in Perth.

We can therefore confirm that coins exhibiting the "punch through" are the only coins that had the counterstamp applied at the show in Perth. The "normal" type had the mark struck onto the coin in Canberra and were taken to the show and sold. As of right now the strike doubling has only been found on the coins counterstamped with the "P" in Canberra but there's nothing to suggest that it wont be found on the coins exhibiting the "punch through". The doubling occured when the coin was struck in Canberra (presumably on a normal production press) without a counterstamp.

Dealers who were allocated coins at the show could have some or all of these known varieties.

We've just created a Swiss Silver Coin Bullion Calculator which is free to use and uses the latest silver prices to determine the silver bullion value of Swiss coins. Switzerland had a remarkably stable coinage system with all denominations from the half franc to the 5 franc coin containing silver up until 1967 (although the 5 franc was minted one more time with silver content in 1969). Like many world mints, the Swiss mint in Bern started making collector coins in 1990 when it started issuing crown sized 20 franc coins in 83.5% silver which contained 0.5369oz of silver.

Remember that the calculator only tells you the bullion value of coins and that the collector value of a coin can exceed that of the pure bullion value.

We've been endeavouring to write an entry on all circulation legal tender which extends itself also to NCLT releases of standard circulation types. As I wipe my brow I am pleased to say that "The Complete Guide to Australian 50c Coins" entry is now completely up to date with all coins issued.

For collectors of the 50c, and the 50c design is very popular, this master entry will be a godsend with images, coin features, designer and mintage information. Each link in the master entry will take you to a unique entry for each coin released, an easy way to figure out if your collection is complete!

The Squash commemorative 50c produced by the Royal Australian Mint was one of 16 coins released in the series depicting each core sport of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006. Each coin was released as non-circulating legal tender (NCLT) and were not issued for circulation but purely as collector coins. The informative card issued with the coin features a sticker of "Karak" the Games mascot indicating it is an official licensed product of the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Release price was $4.95.

The reverse design is by Royal Australian Mint designer Wojciech Pietranik and depicts the game of Squash. It also features the Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006 logo. The obverse is the standard Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of Queen Elizabeth II depicted on all Australian coins since 1999. It is the standard 12 sided 50c shape and weighs 15.55g. It is 31.51mm and made from Cupro Nickel (75% copper and 25% nickel).

As well as the 15 other sporting coins in this series, a commemorative 50c, $1, $5 and $10 coins were also issued. The 15 other sporting coins were released in groups throughout 2005 and early 2006 before the Games started. This Squash coin was in the last release in early 2006.

15,500 of the complete collection of the sporting coins, the student design 50c and the Queen's Baton Relay $5 were issued in a special folder. 21,902 of these Squash coins were released which included those in the complete collection.

In the year 2000 a commemorative 50c was released into circulation celebrating the turn of the century, the transition from the second to the third millennium. Seeing in the beginning of the new millennium was surely a significant event, looking back through our achievements in the last centuries and looking forward to what we have ahead of us. Released by the Royal Australian Mint this fifty cent can be found in circulation, in the 2000 mint set and colourised (pad-printing technology) in the 2000 proof set.

Designed by Vladimir Gottwald this commemorative coin features a stylised Australian Flag with "Millennium year 50 cents" and Gottwalds designing initials on the reverse. There were two types of reverse dies used to strike this issue, the rarer type being the "incused flag" variety where the union jack is incuse rather than raised. The obverse is the standard Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

It is the standard 31.51mm dodecagonal twelve sided design with a plain edge. It is made of cupro-nickel 75% copper and 15% nickel and weighs 15.55g.

64,904 proof sets were issued (and 100 VIP sets) which included the coloured coin. One thing to note if you see an error millennium 50c coin for sale that it is very easy to manipulate the surface of the (proof) pad-printed coloured coin to make it appear that a mint error has occurred. Read more about this in RAM Coloured Coin Issues -buyer beware and about what we did to a 2006 coloured ocean series Bottlenose dolphin one dollar in RAM Coloured Coin Issues -buyer beware: part 2.

106,394 mint sets were also issued containing uncirculated coins and 16,630,000 coins were released into circulation.

We posted recently about the 2011 P Counterstamp Ram Dollar which was available at the Perth ANDA Coin and Banknote Show in February 2011. While we couldn't attend this show it appears that there are at least three varieties of the coin available to collectors. Before we look at the varieties we though it would be worthwhile examining HOW and WHEN the P Counterstamp Ram dollars were made.

1. On the first day of the show it seems that a number of P counterstamps had been pre-minted and made available to the public and perhaps to dealers, it appears that these coins were minted in Canberra before the show took place.

2. Coins were minted by the public on the portable press on the Saturday and Sunday of the show by actually 'pressing the button'.

3. Further pre-minted coins were made by the RAM staff using the portable press either during quiet periods, prior to the show opening, or on Saturday evening after the show shut for the day. These were made available to the public or to dealers on the second day of the show.

We base these conclusions on the observations of those who attended the show and reported to us first hand and on the basis of the characteristics of several coins that we've been able to examine. Now we'll look at the three varieties of the 2011 P Counterstamp Ram Dollar that we've been able to identify.

The "Normal" 2011 P Counterstamp Dollar

Seen above these coins are what we consider to be the coin as it should appear. It is presumed that these coins were minted BEFORE the show commenced, probably using a press in Canberra. This is because these coins were only received from the RAM stand on the Saturday of the show by those who didn't want to strike their own coins. We assume that some of these coins were also distributed to dealers as part of their allocation. We're not sure if was the portable press or a regular production press that actually made these coins. Due to the relative weakness of the counterstamp we presume it was the portable press.

The "Doubled" 2011 P Counterstamp Dollar

Seen above these coins were only received from the RAM stand on day one of the ANDA show by those who didn't want to mint their own coin. We assume some dealers also received these coins as part of their dealer allocation. If you compare the counterstamp on these coins to that on the "normal" coin described above they show strong similarities in terms of strength and characteristics of strike and thus were likely minted on the same press operating under the same conditions. This variety shows strong strike doubling, perhaps even tripling, on the right side of the reverse. This is clearly shown on the right most star and the lettering above and below the star. We'll examine this variety more closely in a subsequent blog entry.

The "Punch Through" 2011 P Counterstamp Dollar

Seen above these coins were received by members of the public who minted their own coins on both days of the show. They were also received by members of the public buying the coins from the RAM stand on the Sunday of the show who did not want to mint their own coin. These coins are characterised by the strong witness mark or what we're calling a "punch through" on the obverse of the coin opposite the counterstamped P. This raised area is similar to that seen on chopmarked trade coins or heavily counterstamped coins (like 19th century Brazilian coinage) and is the result of excessive striking pressure when the counterstamp was applied. This results in the design elements of the coin opposite the mark being damaged or obliterated. Clearly the RAM staff had the striking pressure of the portable press set too high at some or all stages of the ANDA show. It is worth noting that the angle of the "punch through" P counterstamp is slightly different to the two varieties described above. This further reinforces the idea that the pre-minted coins were minted in Canberra rather than in Perth as clearly the counterstamp die had been removed and reinstalled in between the two mintings.

In conclusion what we've got here are two interesting varieties of the normal P Counterstamp 2011 Ram dollar. It's unusual to see varieties of these portable press coins, and while they are not as spectacular as the "no mintmark" dollars that appear occasionally, they are important none the less. If you're a collector of Australian Dollar Coins or interested in errors and varieties then you should be hunting them down for your collection!

Read the update to this article.

Edit 25/05/2011: We spoke to RAM staff at the recent Brisbane ANDA Coin show that the RAM also attended with their portable press. The punch through on the P counterstamp coins struck in Perth was due to the shaft on the P stamp being a little too long and not the pressure of the strike.

The 2011 Shilling Ram one dollar coin in aluminium bronze has recently been issued with a P counterstamp. This 25mm uncirculated coin was struck on the Royal Australian Mint mobile press exclusively at the Perth ANDA coin show in Western Australia on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th February 2011.

This rams head reverse design coin is the same Uardry 0.1 by George Kruger Gray last seen on pre-decimal shillings 1938-1963. It is the one dollar mintmark coin for 2011 and has been issued with a C mintmark at the gallery presses at the RAM and also with S, B and M privymarks in a 4 coin set so far this year and in silver proof. There will be more releases of this design as the year progresses. If you're unsure what the differences are between mintmarks, counterstamps and privy marks then catch-up here.

The P was stamped onto coins pre-struck with the design at the coin show on the mobile coin press. Attendees to the show could buy pre-stamped coins from the mobile press or wait in the queue to press the button to strike the counterstamp on their own coin. Dealers attending the show were given an allocation. Cost was $10 per coin with a mintage of 5,100 coins. There are 3 known varieties of this P counterstamp issue.

Over the years of reign of HM Queen Elizabeth II we have seen 4 standard portraits depicted on Australian currency -Gillick, Machin, Maklouf and Rank-Broadley.

In 1997, at the invitation of Buckingham Palace and the Royal Mint, there was a competition held for the new, more modern portrait design, that of Rank-Broadley was ultimately chosen. Three designs were submitted to her majesty for approval and the one seen above was one of these submitted by Australian designer Vladimir Gottwald.

Vladimir Gottwald, who currently works at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra has designed many coin reverses (most recently the 2011 Australian Wool dollar and the 2010 Australia Day 50c). This obverse portrait is the first Australian designed effigy of the ruling King or Queen since Sir E B Mackennal KCVO RA sculpted the 1910-1936 effigy of King George V on Australian pre-decimal coins.

Gottwald's design was approved for use only on the 2000 royal visit 50c obverse but has been seen again on the Coat of Arms 50c in the 2010 Gold Year Set to mark it's 10th anniversary.

In Gottwald's depiction of a more mature Elizabeth II, the Queen wears the "Girls of Great Britain and Ireland" diamond tiara (as she also does in the first decimal Machin portrait and the Rank-Broadley portrait), which was a wedding gift from Queen Mary (HM's grandmother) in 1947. She also wears the King Faisal of Saudi Arabia Necklace, made by American jeweller Harry Winston which was a gift to the Queen on a state visit to England in 1967. The portrait also features Gottwald's designing initial, a G in a circle.

As part of the Land series of pad-printed colour designs the 2009 Frilled Neck Lizard as shown above was issued by the Royal Australian Mint in a colourful card. These standard sized one dollar coins were issued as NCLT collector coins. The Frilled Neck Lizard is more commonly seen on the now obsolete 2c piece designed by Stuart Devlin, but this design is depicted by Royal Australian Mint designer Sabina Foster.

The 2008-9 land series included the Bilby with a mintage of 17,950, Koala 28,445, Wombat 23,995, Rock Wallaby 25,163 and the Echidna 21,889. It followed the successful Ocean Series of 2006-7 and was supposed to be followed by an Air series of which we are yet to see.

The lowest mintage in this Land Series appears at this time to be the Frilled Neck Lizard with an astonishingly low mintage of just 2,690 coins. Now the RAM shop/website is sold out of this item so it appears that there will be no more of this coin minted. Now that doesn't always mean they won't produce any more, but considering we are now in 2011 it seems unlikely. We think this coin may be the next decimal NCLT to rise in value as collectors build sets and there is a shortage of this particular design. Maybe a chance here to stock up on a low mintage coin and take a punt on a price rise later.

In 1990 the Bank of England produced a new banknote featuring the pioneer of steam technology and father of the British railway, George Stephenson. Five pound paper notes worth 30 million pounds of face value were printed before an embarrassing bungle was realised.

An error inscribing the printing plate had meant that the date on six million notes was wrong. It's most likely the engraver misread the handwriting and inscribed the plates 1971-1845 instead of the correct date of his passing of 1848. The bank acknowledged the slip-up and explained a loss of 180,000 pounds in printing costs. Whoops.

All the error notes were destroyed before new notes were printed. This particular note has been demonetised in England as of 21 November 2003

The portrait of Queen Elizabeth II seen on Australian coin obverses from 1985-1998 was designed by Raphael Maklouf. The Maklouf portrait followed the previous young portrait designed by Arnold Machin and was replaced by the mature portrait by Ian Rank -Broadley in 1999.

As only official Royal portraits are used on all Commonwealth currency it was decided in 1982 by the Royal Mint in London that a replacement for the Machin portrait (used for 18 years) was needed. The Royal Mint invited 17 artists to submit designs and it was Maklouf's models that were the most promising. Two designs were selected for British coinage and one design was adopted to be used on Australian legal tender coins.

Raphael David Maklouf FRSA currently works for the Tower Mint in London which produces Medals and legal tender coinage for Gibraltar. He was born on December 10th 1937 in Jerusalem and emigrated to the UK after the second world war.

This portrait shows Queen Elizabeth II wearing part of the Brittish Crown Jewels, the George IV Royal Diadem (also known as the Diamond Diadem) which HM wears on her way to and from the State Opening of Parliament. It was made by Rundell (the Royal Goldsmith of the time) in the 1820's during the reign of King George IV. The diadem (smaller and less weighty than a crown, much like a special tiara) sparkles with 1333 diamonds weighing 325.75 carats (65.15 g) and has 169 pearls along its base. The design depicts roses, shamrocks and thistles, the floral symbols of England, Ireland and Scotland.

As per tradition Queen Elizabeth II faces to the right in this design, and all others seen on legal tender currency. The base of the portrait shows Maklouf's initials RDM.

In 1963 the Commonwealth Government commissioned artists to submit designs which would become famous on the new decimal currency. Australia was to move to decimal currency from February 14 1966 and it was important that recognisable Australian flora and fauna be represented on our money. The chosen designs have now been used on Australian currency for 45 years and have stood the test of time. It's Stuart Devlin, jeweller to the Queen, we have to thank for the echidna on the 5c, the lyrebird on the 10c, and the platypus on the 20c just to name a few.

There were six artists commissioned (and paid 1,250 guineas) to submit designs for decimal currency. Some of these designs have been reproduced in resin replicas included in the framed 1966 decimal currency heritage set produced in 2010 by the Royal Australian Mint. 10 of these cast resin replicas (70mm in diameter) of the alternate designs can be seen in each set of which there is a very low mintage of just 400 sets.

Artists included Gordon Andrews best known for his designs on the first decimal banknotes, Richard Beck who designed the poster for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, stamp designer Eileen Mayo, medal designer Andor Meszaros famous for the pattern Goose dollar, and artist John Saxton .

There were variations of each design with different formats, fonts and imagery on the different denominations. We saw some of Andor Meszaros designs reproduced on legal tender coins released by the Perth Mint in 2009 as another tribute to those designs that could have been. The designs on the Meszaros 1966 Australian Decimal Pattern set are similar to these resin replicas but none are exactly the same. Each artist was given the flora and fauna theme and worked on pencil sketches which were submitted to the Advisory Panel on Coin Design. Those approved designs were made into sculptures. Ultimately the Devlin designs were chosen but these cast resin replicas seen here were other designs considered.

The recent release of the 1966 Decimal Heritage Coin Set by the RAM provided a unique opportunity for collectors to get their hands on what is not only a very attractive collectable, but also contains 3 of what are the rarest Australian Decimal coins in existence. The set includes 10 resin patterns of proposed 1966 decimal coin designs and a 2010 dated set of decimal coins struck to proof standards and using the normal circulation compositions. That is, bronze for the 1c and 2c coins, copper nickel for the 5c, 10c, and 20c, and 80% silver for the round 50c.

As of right now, the 1c, 2c, and 50c coins have a mintage of just 400 pieces. This makes them the rarest circulation composition decimal coins to date. We talked about this very point in this blog entry. To get an idea of the extreme scarcity of these coins, consider those other decimal rarities, the Wavy Baseline 20c is estimated to have a mintage in the many hundreds to the low thousands, and the 2000 $1/10c mule is estimated to have a mintage of about 6,000.

Below you can find links to short articles containing images of each of these extremely scarce decimal coins.

The 2010 Round 50c Proof
The 2010 2c Proof
The 2010 1c Proof

Above you can see the feather-tailed glider on a bronze Australian coin for the first time since 2006. It is of course, a proof 1c coin minted in 2010, a coin with a mintage of just 400 coins. As one element of the 1966 Decimal Heritage Set it was released to celebrate the 1966 coins that ushered in the decimal era. It also gave collectors the first chance to examine some of the alternate coin designs that never reached our pockets.

You probably know that 1c coins were last minted for circulation in 1990 and they've since disappeared from our change. However, in 2006, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of "C Day" on the 14th of February 1966 the RAM minted 1c coins again as part of the 2006 mint and proof sets. The 2006 1c coin has more than 100 times the mintage of this 2010 proof 1c. Yes, the 2010 proof 1c is truly scarce.

This 2010 coin carries the Ian Rank-Broadley image of QE2, while the feather-tailed glider is the same as envisaged by Stuart Devlin for the 1966 1c coins.

If you weren't one of the lucky few to purchase one of the just 400 1966 Decimal Heritage Sets in late November 2010 then you've got a daunting task in front of you to try to get hold of one of these 2010 proof 1c coins. You'll need to either buy a set on the secondary market (likely at an inflated price) or wait for the separate coins to appear for sale. No doubt some of the more mercenary collectors who snaffled one of the 1966 sets will break them up to make some quick profits.

Seen above is the Australian 2010 Proof 2c coin struck in bronze (97% Copper, 2.5% Zinc, 0.5% Nickel) to proof standards for just the second time since 1991. This coin, wilh a mintage of just 400 coins was part of the 1966 Decimal Heritage Set that was released by the RAM in 2010.

Bronze 1c and 2c coins were minted for circulation in Australia for the last time in 1989 but made an appearance in the 1990 and 1991 mint and proof sets, which was the last time we saw them until 2006. In that year they were included in the mint and proof sets celebrating the 40th year since the changeover to decimal currency in 1966. However, the 1990, 1991 and the 2006 proof coins have mintages in excess of 40,000 so you can see that this 2010 issue is truly scarce indeed.

The coin above carries the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the same reverse design we saw on all Australian 2c coins, the frilled-neck lizard. Like all the reverses of our 1966 decimal coins the reverse was originally sculpted by Stuart Devlin.

If you're wanting to obtain one of these 2c coins to complete your Australian proof coin collection then we can only wish you the best of luck. You'll either need to own one of the 1966 Decimal Heritage sets, will need to purchase one on the secondary market, or wait for the inevitable appearance of the individual coins for sale as coin dealers break up the sets to realise greater profits.

In the image above you can see what is the rarest circulation composition Australian 50c available to collectors. Struck in the same 80% silver/20% copper alloy as the original and iconic 1966 Round 50c this proof quality coin has a tiny mintage of just 400 pieces. It was part of the 1966 Decimal Heritage Set that was released by the RAM in 2010.

This is the second time that the round 50c has been struck since 1966, with another 80% silver proof striking available to collectors in the 2006 Australian proof sets. But the 2006 coin has a much larger mintage of 45,373. Like the 2006 coin, this scarce 2010 issue shows the modern Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II rather than the Arnold Machin portrait of 1966. The reverse design, an interpretation of the Australian Coat of Arms on a sea of Mitchell grass is the same as that used on the 1966 coin which was designed by Stuart Devlin.

Right now the only way for a collector to get their hands on one of these coins is if they either own one of the 1966 Decimal Heritage Sets or if someone breaks up one of the sets and puts the coins up for sale individually. We believe that this will certainly happen, it's just a matter of time.

We're just back from an aborted auction viewing. Aborted because of what can only be described as shocking attention to detail and a complete lack of regard for potential auction bidders. The first shock came when we rang the company in question to ensure that we could view lots, only to find out that today was the first allowable day of viewing. Which is fine but nowhere in the auction catalogue does it mention that there were date limitations on viewing, what if we'd decided to go in yesterday? The second shock came when we walked into the company's premises and there was no air conditioning, it's over 35 degrees today and has been for several days. Stifling doesn't even being to describe what it was like in there. The third shock came when it was time to view the lots, the coins were not marked with the lot numbers!!!!!! So it was up to us to match the description on the coin holder with the description in the catalogue. Which is fine, except when there were 4 separate lots for 4 UNC 1941 half pennies. So when you're bidding on one of those coins which one are you actually bidding on? No-one knows. The fourth and final shock was that some of the lots we wanted to view were just missing, and the staff member who was looking after us seemed to be using us to work through HIS auction lots to work out what was missing.

Needless to say, our viewing lasted about 10 minutes before we decided the heat, the complete lack of attention to detail, and the utter dis-regard for us as customers meant that we left. We'll probably return next week when the weather is cooler and when the company in question may have gotten a bit more organised. But, really, none of this is rocket science, be organised and be concerned for the comfort of your customers. Is it really that hard? After all bidders will pay stronger prices at auction when they've had the chance to view lots beforehand, so the company should want people to come in and view, not have them stay at home where it's cool and comfortable and as a consequence put in weaker bids on lots they are interested in!