Semi-trailer Laden with Locked Containers of the New Decimal Coins and the Commonwealth Escort Car

The delivery of new coins needed at the changeover from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents for February 14th 1966 was given the name "Operation Fastbuck". New coins had to be delivered to banks for the opening of business on Monday February 14th when Australia would begin a period of transition, initially with dual currency to ultimately merge full-time into the use of a new system of dollars and cents.

A lot of new coins had travelled form the Royal Mint in London and arrived at the Melbourne docks and were transported to storage at Deer Park prior to decimal changeover. Operation Fastbuck saw the delivery of all the new coins to banks Australia-wide. In the case of Victoria there were 3 groups involved in the distribution of the new coins from the Deer Park facility. Each group consisted of a semi-trailer loaded with locked containers that held the cases of coins (see image above) with the driver accompanied by an armed Federal Police Officer. A medium sized delivery van (similar to armoured Armaguard, Brinks or Chubb security vans that we see today) saw the driver accompanied by another armed police officer and 2 bank officers. A Commonwealth car (seen in image above) with driver and a police officer armed with an Owen Sub-machine gun kept guard of the semi-trailer as an escort.

On approximately 6 occasions between November 1965 and February 1966 the convoy began to distribute the new coins and banknotes. They would be gone for about 4-5 days on each occasion. After loading up from the facility in Deer Park in Melbourne the 3 groups tracked the entire state of Victoria. Each morning the security van would load money from the semi-trailer to be distributed to banks as the van criss-crossed the trucks path during the day, meeting up with the truck several times to replenish the supplies in the van. The convoy proceeded to the main roads to arranged overnight stops where the personnel stayed at local hotel/motels and the vehicles were guarded by the local police overnight. Remarkably there were no instances of robbery throughout the operation where over 600 million coins and 150 million new banknotes were distributed.

After the operation was completed a Reserve Bank function thanked the 70 or so persons involved and presented them with the very rare "Fastbuck Wallet" of uncirculated new decimal coins each in an inscribed wallet thanking them individually. The information and images provided in this entry have come from one of the Commonwealth Car drivers, Mr Charlie Browne. You can see an image of his own Fastbuck Mint Set in The Pocket Guide to Australian Coins and Banknotes by Greg McDonald (18th ed), a catalogue of Australian coin values. His recollection is that quite a few of these wallets were discarded and the new coins spent in the bar on that day of the presentation. This wallet is certainly the most collectable of all the 1966 mint sets.

Interestingly Mr Charlie Browne did not in fact work for TNT as stated in all the literature on this event. Commonly it is quoted that the 70 persons presented with these sets were TNT drivers. Possibly this is the case for other states but not in the case of Victoria where Mr Browne worked for the Government and there was no involvement of the company TNT. It was a joint collaboration between the Reserve Bank of Australia, Stores and Transport Drivers (Government heavy vehicle and Government Commonwealth Car drivers) and the Federal Police.

Thanks Charlie for your efforts during the currency conversion.

Mr Charlie Browne in 1966 as Commonwealth Car Driver

Last night we attended a meeting of The Numismatic Society of South Australia. As visitors we were heartily welcomed to the meeting with one of the members taking us under their wing talking us through proceedings. The society met with around 15 members and visitors attending the Royal Society Room behind the State Library of Adelaide. The highlight of the meeting was a show and tell and discussion about differing topics from Polish stamps, Australian banknotes, limited decimal releases in the 1966 Heritage Set, tokens (copies) purchased on a recent holiday and a recent acquistion of a HMAS Sydney Medal (just to name a few) as each member and visitor talked about an item or event within their collecting areas. We came completely unprepared but a copy of the recent edition of The Australasian Coin and Banknote Magazine on the table saved the day as we were able to show and discuss our most recent article published about the 1966 Decimal Changeover Medal -the RAM Medallion. Collecting interests of attendees varied through all facets of coins, banknotes, stamps and medals both recent and dating back hundreds of years. Following, we were invited to late night supper and chatted with society members. Before we knew it, it was almost 10:30pm and we said farewell with invitation back for the next meeting. Overall we felt most welcome and we thank members for their friendly introduction to the society.

2011 Circulation 20c IYV+10

The third commemorative cupro-nickel 20c piece for 2011 is set to be released marking the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers. Do you recall the 2001 International Year of Volunteers circulating dollar that you can still find in change? This design, now on a 20c piece incorporates the 2001 design adding a +10 and a frame of stylised people holding hands.

This Royal Australian Mint release and worldwide celebrations held throughout 2011 hope to reinvigorate the spirit of volunteerism globally. It recognises those volunteers of all cultures, ages and origins and celebrates their will, innovation and energy. As well as appearing in circulation these coins will also be available in RAM rolls.

2011 CHOGM One Dollar

A special event held in Perth yesterday unveiled the design for over 5 million commemorative one dollar coins to be released into circulation later this month. We were first alerted to this release after it's inclusion in the first RAM currency determination for 2011. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held in October and Perth will host the largest gathering of world leaders ever in Western Australia which will include Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Gillard. The Royal Australian Mint brought coins to Western Australia yesterday for the unveiling at a special launch marking 100 days until the event.

The design features the globe under the Southern Cross surrounded by stylised flags in the shape of the state of Western Australia. The legends read "CHOGM 2011 1 Dollar Perth, Australia". This design depicts the official CHOGM logo. These coins will also be released in genuine RAM rolls.

See the 2011 mintage table for the latest mintage information.

While not directly coin related the prices of precious metals are of definite interest to coin collectors because it can often result in the intrinsic bullion value of a coin exceeding it's collectable value. The run up in silver prices we wrote about recently ended up with silver closing at just over the US$50 mark and then crashing over a 3 day period by more than US$15 per ounce. It appears now, that with economic troubles in the European Union and the poor state of the US economy that gold bullion is being chosen as a 'safe' asset instead of the US dollar.

US$1600 per ounce is record territory for gold but we're still not seeing record prices in Australian dollar terms due to the high value of the Aussie dollar against the greenback. Gold prices of more than AU$1500 per ounce occurred nearly two years ago when the Aussie dollar was valued at around US$0.70 compared with US$1.06 today. Still, the World Gold Coin Calculator suggests that a gold sovereign is now worth AU$355 in bullion alone, not an insignificant amount for common date coins that usually trade barely above the gold value.

We don't like to offer investment advice on this blog but anyone caught up in the 'gold rush' would do well to bear in mind the rapid 3 day fall of the silver price in May. We'd hate to see anyone experience the same situation if they'd put all their money into gold!

New Zealand reclaimed copper from old pennies and halfpennies after the changeover to decimal currency in 1967 and used the copper oxide to fertilise paddocks for lush green pasture. When it came to Fiji's turn in 1969 it simply wasn't worthwhile to recycle some of the materials -remember this was before we were so committed to recycling! The nickel-brass threepences were scattered into the ocean at an undisclosed location as it wasn't considered worthwhile to send the coins overseas for smelter. Part of the Currency Board's disposal operation was to dump the ex-legal tender coins overboard off the coast of the countries' capital Suva in a deep water top secret location. All other denominations, (a value of £175 000 in 3 separate consignments) aside the 3d's were shipped to Australia for smelting and some cost of the changeover recouped by Fiji.

Did you know that after the changeover to decimal currency in New Zealand in 1967, an estimated 1,000 tonnes of copper reclaimed from the now worthless pennies was melted down for the manufacture of copper oxide. This copper oxide was sold to fertilising companies in Australia, South America and South-East Asia to be used by farmers on their pastures!

It has been revealed that the 2012 mintmark one dollar coin design will feature the wheat stalks and ribbon seen on Australian pre-decimal threepence issues. Designed by George Kruger Gray it is a fitting follow on from the 2011 coin which depicted his champion ram design featured on the shilling. The standard one dollar will be issued with the various mintmark, privymarks and counterstamps that we have seen this year implying that the Royal Australian Mint will continue to strike portable press coins at the various show events around the country. The 3 ears of wheat tied by the ribbon design will also feature on a gold proof $10 coin in 2012 as also seen with the shilling ram design in 2011.

2011 minted coins still to be released include an uncirculated coloured 50c commemorating 50 years of the 000 emergency call service incorporating police, fire and ambulance. More coloured coins are to follow in the Air series with an additional 2 coins following the 4 coins already released this year. Added to this series will be the Cairns Birdwing Butterfly and the Grey-headed Flying Fox.

Continuing with the coloured issues an uncirculated standard Coat of Arms 50c will be issued in 2012 with a coloured representation of the Arms. This will be enhanced by a proof issue with selective gold plating of the Coat of Arms.

2012 is the year of the dragon with the lunar series depicting flames and the Chinese dragon. This release will be struck in uncirculated one dollar denomination, a fine silver one dollar and a smaller gold proof $10 coin.

All this information and more can be found on the ComLaw Website.

The 2011 Melbourne ANDA Coin and Banknote Show

One of the blog authors paid flying visit to the Melbourne ANDA Coin and Banknote Show for 2011 on Saturday July 2. We attended this year mainly as a coin buying trip but also managed to take a few images of the show and talk to quite a few people so we thought a short show report was in order.

Held at the Caulfield Racetrack (like the 2010 Show) this years show had strong dealer attendance. Local Melbourne dealers took the opportunity to bring along a lot of interesting material and it was quite easy to spend too much time searching through many interesting coins! Most of the usual dealers were present including Klaus Ford Coins, VP Coins, Prospect Stamps and Coins, Coinsearch.com, IAG, Roxbury Auctions, Downies, Edlins (with Tony Byrne of course), John Watson Coins, Sterling and Currency, Salamanca Rare Coins, Ye OIde Coin Co, and John Eccles from New Zealand. Universal Coin Company appeared for another show (we saw them at the 2011 ANDA Show in Brisbane) and the Royal Australian Mint and the Perth Mint also had stands selling their normal special show issues. Coinworks also had a stand at the show, the first time we can recall them doing so, they didn't have many coins on display but those that were there could have been exchanged for a quite a large house in a very nice suburb!

Apart from looking for coins, banknotes and exonumia show attendees could also put their names into a box for a prize draw or attend one of several seminars held during the day. The seminars were given by leading numismatic luminaries and were free. Sadly I was too busy looking at coins to go along but I am sure they were valuable exercises. Food and drink was also available at a snack bar in the show venue and having arrived early at the show on a typical icy Melbourne morning the coffee machine at the snack bar certainly did a roaring trade.

The RAM Portable Press

The RAM had their portable press at the show to issue the "M" counterstamp Ram's Head Dollar and this attracted the most interest early in the day with line ups of nearly an hour needed before lunch time. The counterstamp dollars could be purchased either pre-minted (made in Canberra according to the staff at the stand) or you could press the button on the portable press and 'mint' your own dollar if you chose. We'll make sure to look closely at both types of coins and see if there's any difference between the two.

It was great to be able to catch up with some numismatic friends at the show. These included our great friend and numismatic genius PRA and one of the most fanatical dollar collectors in Australia, Goldseeker. We also caught up with John Mulhall from the Australasian Coin and Banknote Magazine (look out for a new article from us the next issue or two). It was great to meet again with an error coin collector that we've been corresponding with for a while and look through his lovely errors, there certainly were some eye poppers in there!

That's it for this year's show in Melbourne, the next ANDA show is in Sydney in early August. We're not sure if one of us will attend but we'd certainly love to! In conclusion my special thanks must go out to Gerry McGinley of At the Toss of a Coin and Richard Welling of Ye Olde Coin Co for looking after me during the day I spent at the show. Richard had a stand at the show and was positive about the business he did during the day. Gerry went to help Richard out during the day and also to spot any bargains! We hope that he found some and Richard had an excellent second day of the show.

Vending machines are everywhere. At train stations, airports, hotel lobbies and shopping centres. They spit out for cash all sorts of goodies such as bottled water, soft drink, and chocolate bars. The sort of essential items you might just have an urge for RIGHT NOW -these machines are there to entice you. Other vending machines offer essential items such as toiletries or bus tickets. The convenience makes life easy! More recently vending machines help you with other items such as a quick mobile device battery top-up and anyone for fishing bait?

The latest in what seems to be a vending machine craze is gold ingots. So you're out shopping in the Westfield shopping centre in West London and you have an urge to buy gold then your desires can be fulfilled quickly and easily at the "Gold to Go" vending machine. First officially unveiled in Abu Dhabi in 2010 a machine has now popped up in England. For £40 you can pick up a 1g gold coin or £10,250 buys you a 250g gold bar. The interest in gold at it's heights at the moment you can also buy a 2.5g gold ingot engraved with London's landmarks for £100 -did I mention it's my birthday coming up?

The computer updates the gold pricing every 10 minutes in line with the current trading price and it hopes to entice investors as gold is considered a solid investment choice. Convenience does however come at a price with the "Gold to Go" machines pricing at a premium over the spot price for gold. There has also been reports of malfunctions where customers have not received the correct sized coin or ingot that they were charged for. In an anti-money laundering move the machine asks for a passport scan for purchases over £2,500.

Many new releases from the Royal Australian Mint today with the issue of the latest Mint Issue Magazine for July 2011. The Census $1, Major Mitchell Cockatoo $1, Kingfisher $1 and the Dame Joan Sutherland $1 just to name a few.

WP initials indicating Wojciech Pietranik

Now of particular interest regarding this latest issue in the Inspirational Australians series is the Dame Joan Sutherland coin. We reported here on the Australian Coin Collecting Blog that the coin was designed by RAM designer Wojciech Pietranik. We made this assumption because of the designers initials on the reverse of the coin -quite an obvious assumption to make (see above). The Mint website and media associated with this release states that the Dame Joan Sutherland coin is designed by Vladimir Gottwald. You can see in our image below that Gottwald's designing initial is a stylised "G" and not the WP we see on the Dame Joan coin. We are yet to see the packaging of this coin. Is it that there are error cards or is it a simple mistake in online description?

WP Wojciech Pietranik (left), Incuse G Vladimir Gottwald (centre), CG Caitlin Goodall (right)

edit July 3rd: It appears the packaging of this coin does correctly state Wojciech Pietranik as the coin designer.