2013 100 Years of Commonwealth Stamps 50 Cent M (Melbourne) Counterstamp
(images thanks to the Blog's special friend "AC")
The mobile coin press travels right around Australia for events from coin shows to agricultural shows. Operated by the Royal Australian Mint it doesn't strike an entire coin it simply adds a type of mintmark known as a counterstamp to the reverse of the coin. Up until now it has always struck this mark onto a 1 dollar coin.
For the occasion of the World Stamp Expo in Melbourne this week the mobile or portable coin press is being used to strike an M counterstamp. This counterstamp (or specialised mintmark) is being struck onto the commemorative 100 Years of Commonwealth Stamps 50 cent coin for inclusion in a PNC. This is the first time it's been used on a fifty cent coin.
A counterstamp can be identified by a raised letter within an incuse circle which denotes that it was struck on the mobile press at a particular location -in this case Melbourne*.
A special friend of the Blog team has been to the show to bring you this process up close. The pre-struck commemorative 50c is carefully placed into the press and the Mint operator aligns the design perfectly so that the counterstamp is applied in exactly the same position on all of the coins struck. There's a screen for the public to view the process and a screen to direct that alignment for the Mint operator.
The Portable Coin Press
The Portable Coin Press -The Public Screen
The Portable Coin Press -Operator Screen No Coin
The Portable Coin Press -Operator Screen With Coin
*There has been occasions where this rule was broken when some P counterstamp 1 dollar coins were pre-struck on the portable press in Canberra before being taken to the Perth ANDA show in 2011. In 2012 all P counterstamp 1 dollars were pre-struck on the mobile press in Canberra and sold at the Perth ANDA show.
Posted by harrisk at May 11, 2013 7:32 PM
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