What is an Australian Penny?

Answer 1

It depends on how much money you have to spend on a hobby. Australian Pennies were minted from 1911 to 1964, so there are not too many of them and if you do not set your goals too high, you should be able to manage a respectable collection of Australian Pennies without much trouble. The fact that they were minted for 54 years does not mean that there are only 54 different Pennies. There were no Australian Pennies minted in 1937 or 1954. In other years, Pennies were minted in more than one place, and sometimes overseas, so there are two or more slightly different versions of the same coin in some years. The Australian 1930 Penny is one of the rarest coins in the world, the 1925 and 1946 Pennies are not quite as rare, and one version of the 1920 Penny is also rare, so it is very possible that you may never have one of these in your collection. Australian Pennies should be a coppery brown in colour and they will all have Australia stamped on them. The design should be clear and well defined with no, or very little wear, the printing should be easily read and there should be no dents or scratches. Have fun.

Answer 2

An Australian Penny was a coin of copper appearance which was first minted in London in 1911 and last minted in Melbourne and Perth in 1964.

From 1911 to 1964, their composition was 97% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin. They had a plain edge, weighed 9.45 grams and were 30.8 mm in diameter.

All Australian Coins have the reigning Monarch on the obverse. From 1911 to 1936, the reverse had the words "ONE PENNY" between two scolls (above and below) within a circle. Between the circle and the outer edge of the Penny, the words "COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA" were inscribed around the circumference with the year at the bottom.

From 1937 to 1964, the Penny had a left facing hopping kangaroo with the word "AUSTRALIA" around the circumference at the top and the word "PENNY" around the circumference at the bottom. The year is below the kangaroo's tail and the Commonwealth Star is below the kangaroo's head.

They were progressively withdrawn from circulation after the introduction of Decimal Currency on the 14th of February, 1966.

In modern currency, a Penny was the equivalent of 0.83 cents, but there was no equivalent decimal coin, although it was effectively replaced by the one cent coin.

There were no Pennies issued in 1937 and 1954.

The rarest Australian Penny is the 1937 pattern coin (which were never released into circulation), the 1920 (no dots) and 1930 coins are rare, and 1925 and 1946 coins are considered to be scarce.

From a coin collectors perspective, Australian Pennies, depending on year, condition and method of minting, can be worth anything from $0.50 to $500,000 AUD.

Please note that since the Australian Penny is part of a redundant or obsolete currency, it no longer has an "exchange rate" with other currencies.