Coins & Banknotes International

12/10/2024

Hello again.
I have to write something about Australian circulated coins, offered on eBay for enormous prices, like the 1988 (1989) $2 coin with 'rare' 'HH' mint mark.
The amount of phone calls I received just for these coins alone wasted the time of a good movie.
Some people are saying that 'I have no idea what I'm talking about and I 'just try to rip them off', because they are on eBay and are worth thousands of dollars and they have x amount of them'.
Disbelieve comes when I tell them that the 1988 alone has a mintage of 160.7 million and if they would be worth this much, I would be in retirement in my villa in Tuscany.
Sadly, I see more and more coins listed on eBay as 'Rare' in every denomination and all this misinformation does is undermine a wonderful hobby.

05/11/2023

And here I am again.
I admit, I was never a big fan of US grading services, but I acknowledged the need of it, especially for coins or banknotes which would loose value by just touching them like Proof's (and high grade aluminium or other soft materials!).
I always thought that the US grading system is not the way we grade coins in Australia and a coin with a scratch has still a grade, even that this seems to be a problem for them and they call them 'Genuine' without grade.
I personally know of a 1930 Australian Penny, which was graded by one of these grading companies as VF30 and multiple dealers acknowledged this coin as fake, including myself. But this is not why I create this post.
I was just looking through eBay and I saw a 1928 China $1 in a PCGS capsule with certification number and hologram label (see attached picture) for a low price of just AU$50.62 + postage, more than 10 available and 5 sold. Of course did I check on the PCGS website and the original coin looks completely different and should have a price tag of US$60,000.00.
But this is not the actual point! This quiet expensive US grading should guarantee the authenticy of your bought product and what will stop a Chinese manufacturer to put any of these fake 'scarce' or 'rare' Australian coin into one of their capsules with PCGS or NGC label? You can't even take the coin out to weight or measure it! So please be very alert from where you buy your coins from and also be aware that the money you spent for the grading might be lost as a dealer might have to break your capsule to check that you have a genuine coin.

15/06/2023

Just a short reminder!
From the 3rd of July 2023, the Australia Post will increase the postage for the 3rd time in a year.
https://auspost.com.au/service-updates/pricing-updates
This will affect probably the postage costs from the Royal Australia Mint, your coin dealers website orders and of course most eBay seller's postal costs.
While most charges are only minor, standard mail with tracking (DL envelope) will increase by over 20% and more important parcel cost will increase by nearly 10%.
In short, your coin collecting will be more expensive!!!

Learn about recent updates to our pricing for delivery and other services.

06/04/2023

And again the Royal Australia Mint can't get their s**t together! After the fiasco with the 2022 red poppy $2 and months of problems with their website I thought that everything was fixed again and we should have no problems anymore.
Oh my was I wrong!!!! Again the 'Queue-it' system is overloaded and at the moment I am waiting over 1 1/2 hours (with no end in sight) in the waiting queue, which is now paused for the second time with a notice attached: 'We are currently experiencing a high volume of transactions. Stock of the new releases is still available. Thank you for waiting in the line.'.
When will this pause stop? I don't know, but I had still a waiting time of over an hour before the pause and I think it will be the same as with the 2022 poppy, when after 5 hours of waiting no result was visible.
A clue that the RAM still has problems should be that the unlimited issue of the 2023 Proof set is not available since months and that the Post Offices have no RAM issues available but Perth Mint!

09/10/2022

Just saw that the new ANDA $1 is out and is still available. So hurry in if you want to get one.
https://eshop.ramint.gov.au/2022-aluminium-bronze-uncirculating-anda-privy-mark-sydney-eastern-blue-groper
Mintage is just 4,000!!!!

2022 $1 Uncirculated Coin - ANDA Privy Mark (Sydney Eastern Blue Groper)

05/06/2022

Hello again,
just a short message.
If you want the 2022 Australia $1 coin ANDA Perth Mint privy mark, go in fast. It's released today and the mintage is just 4,000.

2022 $1 Uncirculated Coin - ANDA Privy Mark (Perth Whale Shark)

02/06/2022

Hello again,
lately very interesting things happening on eBay.
German coins made during 1933-45 are been taken off the website, with the reason of policy violation:

(- Listings that promote, perpetuate, or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination, including on the grounds of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, aren’t allowed. This includes, but isn't limited to, the following:
-- Any item that is anti-Semitic or any item from after 1933 that bears a sw****ka)

This contradicts with another eBay policy:

The following items may be listed:
-Stamps, letters, and envelopes displaying N**i postmarks
-Currency issued by the N**i Germany government, including military scripts

Coins and stamps during the N**i regime made and issued are not 'real' propaganda, but instead were items for the daily use. If you wouldn't put a stamp with a sw****ka on your letter, it wouldn't be delivered and coins you needed for buying your essential item, so you had no other option.

But the real question I have is this: Is it possible that these sudden changes on eBay's own policy has something to do with the law changes in Queensland's new 'Sw****ka' law, which is pretty much adept by Australia's other states?
Is eBay using this law to prohibiting history? And when will this change? Are we now prohibiting Great Britain, Spanish or Portuguese coins from the 17th to 19th century because these countries were trading in slavery? Or let's ban Roman coins (their coins were made for propaganda) as some of their rulers fed Christians and Jews to lions.
The new Queensland law is saying that historic items are excluded, but I think that eBay didn't get the memo yet.
I will still list German N**i coins on eBay, but I will make sure that nothing like 'N**i' or 'Sw****ka' will be in the title and that the main image will not show any 'offensive' picture. And as long as eBay is not changing their own policy, I will relist any item taken off by them.

04/05/2022

Wow, it's already over a year since I last posted on Facebook.
Our Australia Mint has a new system in place to prevent the permanent crashing of their site. I personally like this change and you will be put into a queue and you can see when it is your turn to place your order. I think this makes it more fair for everyone to get an order in. So I thought!!!!
Today was the new release of the 2022 ANDA $1 coin with 'Nemo' privy mark, with a mintage of just 4,000. You won't believe it but it was sold out in less than 45 minutes (this is when I got in for my turn of placing an order). If you do the math you will realise that every minute 89 coins have been sold, or 1.5 coins per second!!!! You were allowed to order 3, so this means that 1,333 customers placed an order in 45 minutes, do the math yourself.....
But I will make a bet, that every 'big' dealer will have them in stock, before you will even can place your order.
Last release Honey Bee with 'C' mint mark was sold out on the same day with a limit of 10 per customer, but at last weekends ANDA show in Brisbane the dealers had them by the boxes for $35.00 each ($15.00 issue price)!
This just shows you, that Australia Mint likes to be 'customer friendly' but only cares about big coin companies like Downies or Imperial (I'm interested when the 1st Cotton Co. roll will be sold) and not collectors to try to get one coin to pass on to the grand kid.
Sorry for my rant !

2022 $1 Uncirculated Coin - ANDA Privy Mark (Brisbane – Barrier Reef Anemone Fish)

01/04/2021

On the 1st of April (and this is not an April fools joke) the Royal Australia Mint issued the NEW $2 coin, with the title 'Defending Country-Indigenous Military Service' , with 'C' mint mark in a decorative card. A beautiful colored coin with a mintage of 50,000.
The issue time was 8.30am ADST (7.30am Brisbane time) and as soon as it hit that time the Australia Mint website crashed. It took me 40 minutes to get my order in after endless refreshing of my screen and half an hour later the coin was SOLD OUT!
I'm sure that I will find on eBay a few sellers with huge amounts of coins for sale, when the max limit of purchase was 25 coins. I personally think that even 25 coins per person was too much. Just think if 2,000 people order 25 coins each, the total mintage of 50,000 of this coin would be gone and how many people won't get one for a reasonable price. I checked yesterday after this 'Sell out' and you could already buy it on eBay for $30 to $40, when the issue price was $15.
The positive news is that this coin was launched on the 30th March for circulation (without 'C' mint mark) and maybe with a bit of luck you might find one in your change.
Happy Easter to everyone and stay safe!!!

COIN PACK $2 UNC 2021 COLOURED 'C' MINTMARK INDIGENOUS SERVICE

07/02/2021

Haven't done a video lately, so here is one I made earlier :)

Cleaning up under my packing table and here it is, a tub full of Australian bronze coins I bought once from a charity shop. Enjoy what I could find.https://w...

04/01/2021

Hello again,
I normally don't post very often, but lately I receive many phone calls and emails asking me what their coins are worth. When I say my professional opinion and tell them what I think they are worth I receive the answer 'But on eBay they sell for that'.
Just to make clear, what you see on eBay is sometimes not the real value of the item! I'm not saying that every person on eBay are scammers and over-price their items, but there are these 'black sheep' thinking I will find an (sorry to say that) IDIOT, which will pay the price I want.
Sadly, lately are more and more of these opportunists listing their items, fishing for the person who hasn't the knowledge of numismatic, and trying to sell their obscure items (manipulations and tooling) as RARE 'Error' coins. The picture shown is just one of so many listed.
Please go to your local dealer and buy from them. This way you have the security that you don't buy a fake.
P.S.: I know sometimes they overcharging too.

01/01/2021

And the 2nd coin you might think about buying is the 2021 Tooth Fairy kit. It's just a thought of mine! Last years kit is a highly sort after coin and the prices doubled on them in shortest time. I think the Mint was a bit smarter this time and the mintage is unlimited, so I don't think the price rise won't be as dramatic as last years, but if you are a $2 coin collector you can't miss this one and if you already buy the Air Force $1 and you have to pay $10 in postage, make it worth a while.

COIN PACK $2 2021 UNC TOOTH FAIRY KIT