1931 Penny Indian Obverse

The 1931 penny was minted with two different obverse die types, the Indian and the London. It's not too often you come across a 1931 penny with the Indian obverse, and it's even rarer (than the 1930 penny) that you'll find one with the Indian obverse and the dropped one London reverse.

This article will help you determine which 1931 penny has the Indian obverse.

The coin seen above has the identifiers for the Indian obverse and also features an aligned 1 meaning it has been paired with the Indian reverse also. The main identifiers for the Indian obverse are:

1. Both colons after IMP point between the rim beads.
2. The last stroke of the N of OMN points at a rim bead.

Souvenir Tokens and Pressed Penny

What holiday isn't complete without tacky souvenirs! We'd planned our holiday to be mostly coin-free until our last days in Wellington but numismatics always works it's way into anything and everything we do.

Our recent visit to Auckland consisted of much sightseeing, sore feet, expensive restaurants and we've come home decidedly poorer for all this. Upon entering the Auckland Museum I was drawn directly to the press-a-penny machine sitting outside the gift shop just waiting for a $2 coin. This machine was enticing because you turned the handle to make your choice from 4 designs and then turned another handle to press the design into a pre-prepared blank with your own strength. These types of machines had once made use of old pennies but now don shiny new token blanks.

After the excitement of physically pressing my own "Auckland Museum" squashed, elongated, rolled, flattened penny cent souvenir collectable (yes, they have a thousand names and are very popular) I was again excited when a machine was presented to me at the very top of the Sky Tower in Auckland. Standing at 220m above the ground in Sky Deck I put my $2 in the machine. With no fancy mechanical action, out popped my pre-struck souvenir coin.

It's surprising how many of these souvenirs I could have brought home with a machine at nearly every tourist attraction. At $2 each time the excitement was lost after a while. Further south the New Zealand Army Museum brought another opportunity in the foyer with the staff telling me it really cost them more than $2 for the souvenir token itself but the vending machine type operation couldn't function with a higher cost. It was simply one coin in and one souvenir coin out and the $2 is the largest denomination coin.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand Museum, coin dies and hubs (with the design mirrored)

New Zealand introduced it's own coinage in 1933 based on the British imperial system which began with 50% silver threepence, shilling, florin, half crown and crown. The copper halfpenny and penny were approved later and issued for New Zealand's centenary in 1940. Due to the rising cost of silver, the 50% silver coins were replaced with copper nickel in 1947.

New Zealand adopted decimal coins on July 10th 1967 Decimal Currency Day with the help of the cartoon character "Mr Dollar". The change wasn't as smooth as expected with the birth of a new mule with a New Zealand 2c reverse and Bahama Islands 5c obverse. Also noted were mismatched serial numbers on notes, two notes with the same number and 2c coins that were simply blank. New Zealand removed 1c and 2c coins in 1990 and introduced $1 and $2 coins in 1991. Everyday trading in New Zealand coins is different to Australia and more intuitive in that their $2 coin is larger than the $1. At this time the design on the 20c changed from New Zealand's national bird, the Kiwi to the Maori 'pukaki' carving as the new $1 coin now depicted the Kiwi bird.

2006 brought a "change for the better" with a new size and composition for the 10c, 20c and 50c coins and the removal of the 5c, a change Australia may look forward to in the future. Tenders were sought with the Royal Canadian Mint the obvious choice with a better quality coin product available.The new coins are plated steel, a cost saving measure with an inner core of steel with layers of nickel and copper. The 10c has a copper appearance and the 20c and 50c a nickel outer layer.

The change in 2006 saw an extensive public awareness campaign and after consultation with the blind and visually impaired community the coins went into circulation. The 20c features distinctive edging known as "spanish flower" which has a smooth edge and seven equidistant rounded indents, this helps it to be easily distinguished from the 50c. The changeover period was short, just 3 months for the public to change their older style coinage for the new. The recalled coins all but paying for the new coins minted. Today there is no place for the older, larger non-plated steel coins, they're not even accepted at banks.

Going Decimal Display at the BNZ Banking Museum, Wellington

Decimal Changeover Day Poster July 10th 1967

Reserve Bank of New Zealand Museum, Wellington

A holiday to New Zealand wasn't complete without some numismatic enlightenment in the form of a trip to the Reserve Bank Museum in the country's capital of Wellington. Now New Zealand doesn't have it's own mint so all currency is handled (since 1989) by their Reserve Bank. Polymer notes are printed in Melbourne, Australia and current circulating coins are produced at the Royal Canadian Mint.

The museum has displays of all manner of numismatic material. Examples of old paper notes, pre-decimal coins, early decimal coins including the famous 1967 Bahamas Mule and explanation of the new coins and when and how the changes to these new coins occured. The museum was well equipped with freebies including lollipops, pamphlets, posters and we even took home some shreddings of polymer notes! The museum gave us the insight into New Zealand coins and notes that is unobtainable elsewhere with very few coin shops to mention and new releases sourced only through New Zealand Post. Staff at the Reserve Bank Museum were friendly and very accommodating.

Coins, dies, blanks and scissel (the leftover of the sheet metal after the blanks are punched out)