2016-11-21 Mon

There was a huge demand for circulation coinage during the great depression which led to a global economic downfall. Two rare base metal rarities were issued by Australia and Great Britain in extremely small numbers of cents. A similar rare Canadian coin should not have existed after a sudden change in the British monarchy.

The Australian 1930 penny falls under the category of Australian commonwealth coins. Many collectors did not know that such a coin existed even after it entered circulation. No expert can really explain why only a few of these coins were minted. Some believe that it was an experiment to produce better pennies for the 1930s. The coin became so popular that even the con-collectors started falling in love with it.

The exact number of coins issued is still not known, and most researchers say that 3,000 is the closest number and 1,500 are currently traded in the marketplace. In May 2016, one of these coins was auctioned for $8,850. An About Uncirculated 50 example was sold for $70,500 by Heritage. A Good Fine/About Very Fine example was sold in April for $19,080 by International Auction Galleries. The finest known example had an estimate of at $450,000 Australian at an auction in June 2011.