Brisbane Coin Fair Overprint

The Brisbane Coin Fair run by VP Coins (Vic Power) is by all reports an excellent coin show to visit. It is attended by a lot of dealers, held twice a year and many people say is a lot better than some of the ANDA coin shows held around Australia. For the show in February 2008, as a marketing exercise Vic overprinted 973 Coat of Arms mintmark dollar coin folders with “Brisbane Coin Fair February 2008”. Now these were just the general issue Coat of Arms “C” mintmark dollars in their packaging, but the folder was over-printed. He repeated this exercise in October 2008 (with COA “B” privy coins- 1089 issued) and again this month but with the new 60 Years of Australian Citizenship Dollar “C” mintmark. You can see one of the overprinted coin folders from this months show above, 1493 of these were issued at the show.

These overprint folders present an interesting conundrum to the collectors of Australian $1 coins. Namely, should you collect them or not? They are, after all, the same coins you can get in non-overprinted folders. So in reality all you are collecting if you do choose to get them is the packaging. There are really just three arguments for collecting them.

1. Firstly, they are dollar related, and if one was to be pedantic, for completeness, then you do require them for a truly comprehensive collection.
2. The second argument is the mostly unsubstantiated claim that these overprints are recognised by the Royal Australian Mint (in fact some of the production of the first overprint was supposedly done by the RAM). The claims are restricted to ‘someone read in the Australian Coin and Banknotes magazine that they were recognised’ and ‘the RAM is supposed to have an overprint in their museum’. Neither of these claims is particularly strong nor supported by any real proof.

   UPDATE 10 October 2015
   Vic Power of VP Coins in Queensland sent us some clarification on this point 6 years after this article was first published. Vic ran the Brisbane Coin Fair so if anyone knew the truth behind these issues then he would. Here’s what he told us:

   The overprint was always done by a foil printer in Brisbane and never by the mint. All overprints were approved by the RAM prior to printing. The RAM requested that we send them a couple of examples of the finished product for their records which would explain any that they may have on (sic) display.

3. The final reason for wanting these overprints would be purely financial. These overprints are scarce, with just 1000-1500 printed for each show. They are available to people who attend the shows for just $6 or so, and sell on eBay for $20. The February 2008 overprint was getting $40-$50 at the peak of it’s prices.

Well what are the reasons for not wanting to collect them? Just one really. They are not a unique coin, they are just packaging. Silverfish food. As someone I know says, it’s just ‘packyboxitis’ on the behalf of collectors who want them. If you’re collecting these why not the other varied packaging that dollar coins come in, the various VIP issues, Berlin Coin Fair overprints, mint sets, proof sets, the list goes on.

What do I think? Well I have one of each of the overprints for completeness, but if the prices for them in the secondary market had reached exorbitant levels I would not have bothered. They are collectable and interesting, but I am not really sure they should comprise part of what I’d call an official dollar coin collection.

There are many Australian decimal coins which are rare and scarce. Often it can be harder to find certain coins in circulation because for a particular year that denomination was low mintage. Examples of these are:

• 1968 5 cent
• 1972 5 cent
• 1968 20 cent
• 1997 50 cent

Legitimate variety or error finds that were actually released by the mint that are so scarce that if you actually find one in circulation then you should go out and buy yourself a lottery ticket! These include the 2000 $1/10 cent mule or the 1966 wavy 2 20 cent piece.

1966 20 cent with Wavy 2

• 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1995 20 cent
• 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992 Coat of Arms 50 cent

Some coins just weren’t issued to be circulating currency but are the same size, weight and colour as those you would get given in change. The majority of these are one dollar coins and are issued as Non-circulating Legal Tender (NCLT) coins. You can get lucky and find them in change and this is rare indeed. Examples of these might include:

• 2000 Victoria Cross dollar
• a variety of mintmarked, privy marked or counterstamped dollars
• Coloured Ocean/Land series dollars

Other rare Australian coins are errors, mistake coins that have usually had quite obvious mishaps during the minting process. These are usually found and destroyed by mint staff before they leave the mint but occasionally some escape. Sometimes these are off centre strikes (also called mis-strikes or broadstrikes) or even clipped planchet coins just to name a couple. Other errors quite often overlooked because of their obscurity are cuds on coins or metal peels. These are often interesting collector pieces as they are all different.

A 1937 Australian Crown

The silver Australian Crown was minted in Melbourne only in the years 1937 and 1938. It depicts an image of a royal crown on the reverse designed by George Kruger Gray and George VI portrait on the obverse by Thomas H Paget. It’s denomination is 5 shillings.

The Australian Crown was initially issued in 1937 to mark the occasion of the coronation of George VI. Many of these were hoarded as keepsakes of the occasion. Because of this popularity it was released again in 1938 but without much success. As a new denomination and a large coin weighing 28.27 grams with a 38.5 millimetre diameter it was considered too heavy and awkward to be carried for everyday usage. The 1937 crown has a mintage of 1 008 000 and the 1938 a mere 101 000 thus the 1938 is the rarer more sought after coin.

Because of the hoarding of the 1937 crown it is quite common to see these coins in mid-grade however rarely seen in the lowest grades and difficult to obtain in the highest grades. The highest point to note in the design when looking for wear is the cross in the orb of the crown and how distinguishable it is. Crowns are often found with heavy bag-marks because of the heavily reeded edge and the large fields.

Australia 2014 Mob of Roos Dollar

A popular series for collectors and their collections is the Australian one dollar coins issues.The one dollar was first minted in 1984 when the $1 note was withdrawn from circulation. The reverse has the iconic 5 ‘mob of roos’ design by Stuart Devlin. It’s composition is 92% copper, 6% aluminium and 2% nickel which is nicknamed ‘alum bronze’. It is 25 millimetres diameter and weighs 9 grams. The one dollar coin is often released each year with commemorative designs depicting events of that year.

In 1991 the Royal Australian Mint introduced a new concept where if you visited the mint you could press your own coin on the gallery presses and keep the coin in a special folder. 1993 brought the first of the mintmarked $1 coins where a special letter was struck on the coin either at a show or fair. Also coins were released throughout the year depicting different letters. Often these mintmarks differed only very slightly and it was difficult to determine their origin. These mintmark dollars proved extremely popular with the public and the mint increased their releases to include other alum bronze collector dollars the same size and weight that weren’t for circulation. Because of their size and similarities to the circulation dollars they are often found in circulation and are eagerly sought after by ‘coin noodlers’. A particular example is the 2000 Victoria Cross dollar which was issued in a special folder at $5 and now retails for $250. These have been known to turn up occasionally in poker (or slot) machines.

Australian 2000 $1 / 10 cent Mule

In the year 2000 there was a mistake at the Royal Australian Mint during production of the dollars. The “mob of roos” reverse die was accidently partnered with the Queen Elizabeth II obverse die of the Australian 10 cent piece. This 10 cent die was only slightly smaller than the normal dollar obverse die. Coins were released into circulation and to numismatists delight the error was found. These dollars could easily be found in change so the “mule” hunt began. An average example of a mule today could be worth $400 and a high grade example worth $4000.

2006 brought more interest to the one dollar series with the RAM incorporating a new method of production; the pad printed design. This colored series featured ocean animals and is very popular with collectors. Now you would surely notice if one of those ended up in your change! These are NCLT issues not intended for circulation. Read more about this in my previous post.

This year the RAM did a rethink of the term mintmark and introduced some other terms to help distinguish between the dollar coins and where and how they were struck. The terms counterstamp, privymark and mintmark are now used. You can learn about the differences of these coins in my previous post here.

To date there are over a hundred different types and mintmarked coins possible to collect of the 25 millimetre dollar. To collect the entire series of the alum bronze dollars takes a lot of effort and with the mint issuing more and more every year it is becoming difficult on one’s wallet keeping up with them all. A new scheme the RAM has come up with involves putting unique dollar designs in mint sets or uncirculated baby sets, forcing collectors to purchase the entire set and break it up just to get the dollar coin. Some of these newer releases seem to be really just novelty coins and haven’t proved successful for investment purposes. I might have to rethink my collection……….