Australian Coins

The "H" is the mintmark indicating that the coin was minted at the Heaton Mint in Birmingham.

All 1912 and 1915 Australian Pennies were minted at the Heaton Mint.

Also, the "H" will appear under the lower scroll and above the date rather than after the date.

Some 1912, 1918 and 1919 British Pennies were also minted at the Heaton Mint. These have the "H" to the left of the date.

I cannot answer your question directly, but see the following as an indicator. An Australian 1930 Penny is the rarest coin that has ever been released into general circulation in Australian history. Only 3,000 were minted and of those, 1,500 still exist and are trading in todays market. They are still arguing about why the 1930 Penny was released at all. There are only 6 proof coins known to exist, 3 in museums and 3 in private collections. Depending on who you choose to believe, a proof 1930 Penny might go for anything between $250,000 and $500,000 AUD. One of the private collectors has recently declined an offer of $1,000,000 AUD for his proof coin. An uncirculated 1930 penny in absolute mint condition could fetch up to $150,000 AUD. If it is in less than mint condition, it might fetch as little as $10,000 to $15,000 AUD. A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation. Authentication and verification of such coins is vital. The Australian 1930 Penny has recently been described as the "Holy Grail" of the coin collecting world.

Australia does not have a "quarter" coin.

Such a coin does not exist, the Royal Australian Mint did not produce any commemorative coins in 1973. You may have a souvenir token or medallion which would have been sold at the opening in 1973. In mint condition, it might get a dollar or two.

Alternatively, you may have a 1997 pure silver "Landmark series" Ten Dollar coin which, in mint condition and the original packaging, could fetch up to $99.00 AUD.

A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

There are two types of 1933 penny - those with the normal tails side design, and those that have the number "2" visible underneath the second "3" in the date - this is called the 1933/2 overdate penny.

They aren't significantly rarer than the standard Australian penny dated 1933, but collectors are prepared to pay a good premium for one if it is in better than average condition. An example in mint condition should bring $2,000 - $3,000 or more, compared to $500 - $700 for a standard 1933 penny in the same grade.

Hopefully, we are both talking about the same thing. Please advise via my Message Board if I have got it wrong or, you can provide some further detail about the coin/token. During the 19th Century, many companies in the Australian Colonies manufactured their own coins or tokens for the use of their customers when dealing with that company. This appears to be one of them. T Warburton, Iron and Zinc Spouting Works of 11 Little Bourke Street West, Melbourne, Victoria, had seven different One Penny tokens manufactured by the T Stokes Mint, each having an Australian design on the reverse featuring an Australian Arms, emu, grapevine or wheatsheaf, and the company identity and address on the obverse. They were all dated 1862, made of copper, are 34mm in diameter, and their rarity is graded between R2 (Frequently seen) and R5 (Scarce). Depending on which variant you have, and what condition it is in, it could be worth anything from $15 to $400 AUD if it has been circulated or, $200 to $700 AUD if it is uncirculated. A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

A Australian One Hundred Dollar note (Fraser/Higgins - serial ZFX), uncirculated and in absolute mint condition could fetch up to $310 AUD. If it has been circulated but still in good condition, it might fetch anything from $120 to $190 AUD.

A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

Australian slang for decimal banknotes has never really caught on, although there seems to be a few locally used expressions here and there, none of them have become a part of our colloquial speech. We seem to have been happy to merely borrow the US term, "Buck" to refer to any Dollar amount.

Pre-decimal currency was a bit more colourful, some of the more memorable terms being -

Ten Shillings - Ten Bob, Half a Quid, Half a Fiddly, Teddy.

One Pound - Quid, Fiddly (which is a play on words derived from Quid).

Five Pounds - Fiver, Spin or Deep Sea Diver (rhyming slang).

Ten Pounds - Tenner or Brick (because it was red).

Quid also applied to any multiple of Pounds.

There were a range of other short lived names as a result of whoever happened to be Prime Minister at the time, or whoever had their signature on the notes, perhaps due to a strange name or some physical characteristic worthy of making fun of.

You occasionally still hear the rhyming slang "Oxford Scholar" referring to a Dollar, but usually only in the company of the elderly.

The following is a list of possibly regional terms for Australian decimal banknotes, I have never heard most of them used in Australian colloquial speech (Strine).

$1 (brown) - Brown Bomber, Queenie and Bung Buck.

$2 (green) - Sick Sheep (referring to the colour and the sheep) or Greenback (borrowed from the US).

$5 (purple) - Fiver, Sky Diver (rhyming slang), Pink Lady, Prawn, Piglet and Rasher (of bacon).

$10 (blue) - Tenner, Blue Swimmer, Blue Heeler or Banjo (referring to Banjo Paterson).

$20 (red) - Red Lobster or Lobster, Redback or Rusky (all due to the red colour).

$50 (yellow) - Pineapple, Yellow Peril and Banana (all due to the yellow colour).

$100 (grey paper) - Grey Nurse (shark), Ghost or Bradman (a very obscure reference to Bradman's batting average).

$100 (green polymer) - Jolly Green Giant, Green Soldier (referring to General Monash), Avocado, Watermelon, Tree Frog or Peppermint.

WARNING - If you propose to incorporate any of these terms into your regular vocabulary, please be advised that some of them are politically incorrect, derisive or racist.

An Australian 1997 Fifty Dollar 0.5 oz gold nugget (Prosperity or Longevity), in absolute mint condition and the original packaging, could fetch up to $650 AUD.

There were 10,000 minted.

A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

My son-in-law just brought me back a beautifully tanned Kangaroo Scrotum pouch (no seams) from Australia to hold my USA country's coins. He actually bought several as gifts and they cost around $15 each! Mine will hold several dollars worth of change. It is quite a trophy or curio to bring out of my pocket and "show & tell" with certain friends and some strangers that possess a sense of humor.

The Royal Australian Mint (RAM) in addition to producing Australian coins, also produces coins for a variety of other countries. They also produce medals, medallions, tokens and a range of jewellery.

Australian One Dollar notes designated with "AUSTRALIA" were issued from 1974 to 1982.

You do not give any useful information like the serial number range or the signatories on the note.

If by "sec numbers" you mean "consecutively numbered serial numbers", I assume that they are uncirculated and in mint condition. Depending on the signatories and serial number range, they could be worth up to $85 AUD each, or as little as $7 AUD each. If they are not in mint condition, they are worth at least One Dollar at the very worst.

A consecutively numbered range would appeal to certain banknote collectors and possibly have a higher collective value.

A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

The British 1797 "Cartwheel" Pennies, designed by Matthew Boulton, were the first copper pennies to be minted, pennies previously being made from silver. They were also amongst the first coins to be minted on a steam driven coin press.

The reverse of these coins is upside down to the obverse. This is normal.

They were not intended to have a hole through them, making it worthless as a collectible coin.

An Australian 1975/6 Fifty Dollar note (Knight/Wheeler - serial YAV to YBX with centre thread), uncirculated and in absolute mint condition could fetch anything up to $450 AUD. If it has been circulated but still in good condition, it might fetch anything from $60 to $175 AUD.

An Australian 1975/6 Fifty Dollar note (Knight/Wheeler - serial YAV to YCZ with side thread), uncirculated and in absolute mint condition could fetch anything up to $400 AUD. If it has been circulated but still in good condition, it might fetch anything from $70 to $170 AUD.

A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

The "Holey Dollar" is a relic of Australia's Colonial past. Britain was unable to keep the colonies supplied with coins of the realm due largely to the expense of the Napoleonic Wars.

Governor Lachlan Macquarie acquired 40,000 Spanish Dollars in 1812. The centres were punched out resulting in the "Holey Dollar" and "Dump". The "Holey Dollar" was valued at Five Shillings and the "Dump" at Fifteen Pence.

These coins were recalled and demonetised in 1829 and melted down. There are less than 300 "Holey Dollars" known to exist, and approximately 1,000 "Dumps".

A Holey Dollar, circulated but still in good condition, might fetch anything from £35,000 to £475,000 GBP.

A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

The Perth Mint produced 1oz silver "Holey Dollars" and "Dumps" in each of 1988, 1989 and 1990 as collector coins.

The Australian 1943 Penny was minted variously at the Melbourne Mint (no mintmark), Perth Mint (mintmark is a dot after the Y in PENNY "Y.") and Bombay Mint (mintmark is an "I" under King George's bust).

The nugget's worth will vary. Get used to the idea. It may be worth more as a "whole nugget" than for the gold it contains, but a collector would have to be willing to pay for it. There are a lot of variables that affect its value as a collectible. Here are some other things to consider. A gold nugget isn't pure gold. It is common for gold to have a bit of silver and/or copper as an alloy in the nugget. Naturally there is no way to know without a bit of assay work. And that costs a bit of money. Not only is the gold content of the nugget variable, so is the price of gold. It varies hourly during the time the gold markets are open. A link is provided so you can look at the spot price of gold. Use the index to find the unit of weight you wish to look up (gram, ounce, etc.). Then you can look up the per-unit-weight spot price in any major currency, including Australian dollars.

The grey paper Australian One Hundred Dollar note featuring Sir Douglas Mawson were progressively withdrawn from circulation in 1996 after the introduction of the new polymer notes.

Although no longer in use, the old notes are still legal tender and can be deposited into a bank account. Shop keepers and businesses may be reluctant to accept them.

There is a big distinction between "damaged" and "error".

If it is not too badly damaged and still identifiable as a 10 cent coin, it is worth 10 cents.

If there is a minting error such as being struck upside down or parts of the design are missing or over struck, it may have some value as a collectible coin.

One is not a 5 cent coin, but the other one is.

Australia did not issue a One Dollar coin until 1984.

The "Cairns to Gold Coast Pacific 1000" race coins were sold as souvenirs of the event and are possibly not worth more than the purchase price.

The Australian Dollar (AUD) symbol is $. One vertical line through an "S".

A "Sydney Mint - Australia" 1870 22 carat gold Sovereign (Victoria), uncirculated and in absolute mint condition could fetch up to $3,650 AUD. If it has been circulated but still in good condition, it might fetch anything from $425 to $850 AUD.

Mintage is unknown.

A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

What is often referred to as an "Australian" Sovereign or Half-Sovereign is a problem of categorisation.

British Sovereigns were minted at the Melbourne, Perth and Sydney Mints to the British pattern from 1871 to 1931 and have a Melbourne, Perth or Sydney Mint mintmark on them. These are definitely British Sovereigns, but minted in Australia (where the gold was mined from).

Sovereigns and Half-Sovereigns minted at the Sydney Mint for local use from 1853 to 1870 had "Sydney Mint" and "Australia" inscribed on them, but Australia did not exist as much more than a loose affiliation of British colonies. The loose affiliation got a little tighter in the 1890's, until Federation in 1901.

An Australian 1953 One Pound note (Coombs/Wilson), uncirculated and in absolute mint condition could fetch up to $375 AUD. If it has been circulated, but still in good condition, it might fetch anything from $20 up to $160 AUD.

If it is a star note, uncirculated and in absolute mint condition could fetch up to $43,750 AUD. If it has been circulated, but still in good condition, it might fetch anything from $675 up to $9,750 AUD.

A reputable coin dealer will be able to give a more accurate valuation.

KN is the mint mark on coins made by the King's Norton Metal Company under contract from the British Royal Mint.