April Fools-Rare Counterstamped 1988 2 Dollar Coin Issue

This article appeared on our blog April 1st 2016 and is completely untrue. You can however find the initials of the designer Horst Hahne (HH) on every 1988 2 dollar coin. This coin has no value beyond it’s face value of $2.

$2 Coin with HH on Aboriginal Portrait

$2 Coin with HH on Aboriginal Portrait

Take a closer look at the 2 dollar coin in your pocket, purse or wallet, does it have a tiny HH on the torso of the Aboriginal in the picture? Have you found a $2 with a small HH stamped onto the coin and think it’s got to be worth a lot of money? Have you found a rare coin?

You sure have, and they are rare and worth a tidy sum!


Now there’s no need to jump on Facebook to ask about the HH, and now you’re here there’s no need to ask Google- here’s the answer.

Back in 1988 when the first $2 coins appeared, a local entrepreneur sought to mark the transition from a 2 dollar note to a 2 dollar coin by adding his mark to the coins. Horatio Hornblower, of H & H Engineering Co counterstamped the new coins as they came though his factory out the back of Bourke in northern New South Wales. It’s not known how many of the 160,852,000 new coins have the added mintmark but if you find one you have a very rare piece indeed. In 2016, some 28 years later these coins are still found in your change and it’s important to look out for this counterstamp.

This article appeared on our blog April 1st 2016 and is completely untrue. You can however find the initials of the designer Horst Hahne (HH) on every 1988 2 dollar coin. This coin has no value beyond it’s face value of $2.

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