If you’re a participant in any PCGS Registry Sets then you would have received an interesting email today from BJ Searls, the PCGS manager of the Set Registry. PCGS are introducing bonus points for the so-called ‘finest graded’ coins. Basically, that means if one of your sets contains the highest graded coin of a type, and there are no coins available of that type in a higher grade then you’ll get bonus registry set points. If your coin is the single finest graded (usually denoted as pop 1/0) coin, then you’ll receive two bonus points. However if your coin is the equal highest graded and one of two at that grade (population 2/0) then you’ll get one bonus point.

In the case where some evil coin grading genius manages to submit a coin to PCGS that grades higher than yours then you’ll lose the bonus registry set points. Similarly, if you previously had a single finest graded coin and someone steals your registry set thunder with an equal graded coin then your two bonus points will be reduced to one. In the final case, if you’re sitting pretty with a coin that is population 2/0 and basking in the glory of the bonus point that gets you, then you’ll be sadly disappointed when Wile E. Coyote (coin grading SUPER genius) gets a coin graded with the exact same grade as yours, making your coin a population 3/0 coin. No more bonus point for you. Let’s look at how this might work for some highly graded Australian coins.

First up, is the single finest graded 1947Y half penny in PCGS MS64RB. Previously this coin would have received 65 registry set points (64 for the grade and 1 for the RB desigination). Under the new system it will get two bonus points resulting in 67 registry set points.

Next is a 1951M penny in PCGS MS65RD of which there are two at this grade and none higher. Previously this coin would have received 67 registry set points (65 for the grade and 2 for the RD desigination). Under the new system it will receive 1 bonus point resulting in 68 registry set points.

It’s worth having a look at a live registry set (see image below) to see how these new rules are applied. Note that the single bonus point for a coin that is tied with the highest grade only applies when there are TWO (population 2/0) coins at that grade. You can see that in the image below, the items labelled A are the highest graded but one of three (population 3/0) and one of four (population 4/0) and do not have a bonus point. However, the item labelled B is one of two and does have a bonus point. Interestingly the bonus points seem to be independent of colour designation. The two coins labelled C are the highest graded coins with the brown designation, but there are coins with different colour designations that are worth more in registry set terms. Despite that, these coins still receive the bonus points for being the highest graded with the brown designation.

The complete PCGS Registry set rules can be found here and in there is direct mention of the bonus points for pop 1/0 and pop 2/0 coins. As an aside, in the image above you can easily see the coins that are receiving bonus points because they are highly graded. Coins with two bonus points are highlighted in yellow while those with one in grey. Additionally as the owner of the set if you hover your mouse over the coloured cells a popup will be displayed explaining the top pop bonus points that coin is receiving. It looks like you can only see these colour codes (and informational popup) if you’re the owner of the set, they are not visible when browsing other people’s registry sets.

It’s an interesting move by PCGS, with their motivation (in their own words) being to “reward the owners of these very special coins”. It certainly makes single finest graded coins potentially more valuable. It could also add value to brown (or red brown) graded coins that were previous registry set ugly ducklings. For example, previously a top pop (5/0) coin in MS65RB was worth 66 registry set points, while the same coin in MS65BN (which happens to be a pop 1/0 coin) was worth just 65 points. Under this new system the MS65RB coins are still worth 66 registry set points, while the MS65BN is now worth 67! It’s now (potentially) a more valuable coin to a registry set participant.

Given that competition is already strong to get the highest graded Australian PCGS coins for registry sets one can only wonder if these changes will help drive up prices of the top graded coins even further.

The latest currency determination for the Royal Australian Mint gives us a sneak peak at upcoming issues as if we were looking into a crystal ball. The fourth government document issued by Treasury in 2015 explains proposed designs the Mint plans to make into both circulating coins and collector currency. Let’s take that peak into the upcoming issues.

1. 20 cent commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Sir Henry Parkes. Known as the Father of Federation, we celebrated the centenary of his death with a commemorative dollar in 1986. Now, in 2015 we commemorate the bicentenary of his birth with this coin design by Yannie Rumbaoa. Including his initials ‘YR’ the coin reverse depicts Sir Henry Parkes and a stylised representation of the Southern Cross.

2. 50 cent Empire Air Training Scheme appears to fit within the Australians at War series in the ANZAC Centenary coin program being the next coin in the 18 coin set issued over three years. This program (EATS) trained 45,000 additional Australian aircrew throughout World War II from 1940-1945. The design features a red ’50’ on a blue background with three airmen and an aeroplane. Concentric circles are superimposed on a stylised representation of a part of the map of the world.

3. Another coloured commemorative 2 dollar coin with an ANZAC theme. This time red circular stripes, 5 crosses and poppy flowers in between. In the middle, ‘LEST WE FORGET’. Perhaps we’ll see this new coloured $2 for ANZAC day 2015?

4. Unlikely Heroes Great and Small, the continuing new coloured one dollar series. A further two coins to be issued in this series, the first Horrie the dog and the second Shake the kangaroo. Horrie was the unofficial mascot of the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion in Egypt in 1941 and was smuggled back into Australia in 1942. The terrier was adopted by Australian soldier Private Jim Moody and Horrie is depicted on the coin reverse along with 3 tents in a desert scene. Shake was a kangaroo mascot of an Australian regiment and lived in Egypt around 1915. Many Australian units took kangaroos and other Australian animals to Egypt during the war and some were given to the local Zoo when the units were sent to Gallipoli. Shake is depicted on the coin reverse in front of coloured pyramids in a desert scene.

5. The determination outlines all denomination standard designs with a fitting edge to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Australia’s change to decimal currency on February 14th 1966 -February 14th 2016. Will these be included in the Mint and/or Proof sets for 2016? All coins from the 5 cent up to the $2 have the standard reverse with just a change to the obverse. We’ll still see the Rank-Broadley portrait of Queen Elizabeth II but each in the form of a pre-decimal ancestor, for example the 1 dollar mob of roos with the obverse bearing the IRB portrait inside an Australian florin as it last circulated in 1963 but without “1963 FLORIN” replaced with “FIFTY YEARS” and the date in the legends with “ELIZABETH II” and “AUSTRALIA” inside an ornamental border.

The 5c will depict a 1964 penny,
the 10c a 1964 threepence,
the 20c a 1963 sixpence,
the 50c a 1963 shilling,
the $1 a 1963 florin,
the $2 a 1938 crown.

6. It appears the mintmark, privymark and counterstamp dollar coins (broadly determined, not all may be minted) will be in honour of Australia’s first mintmark. The reverse of each will depict a wreath tied with a central ribbon with a representation of St Edward’s Crown much like what appeared on the reverse of Australia’s first Sydney sovereigns showing they were different from their British brothers. It will be inscribed “ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT”, “AUSTRALIA” and “ONE DOLLAR” each with it’s own special mark of issue. The image below courtesy of Drake Sterling Numismatics.

The unveiling of a new effigy of Queen Elizabeth II for British coins was an important event held in London yesterday. Why is this important for us Aussie collectors? Well, it’s likely the new design will be rolled out across all Commonwealth coinage in the coming years. The Royal Australian Mint is yet to make a statement, but it’s early days.

The new portrait will adorn all circulating coinage for the United Kingdom made from today. The designer, 34 year old Mr Jody Clark is a Royal Mint engraver whose design was chosen from a number of anonymous submissions. The new portrait depicts the Queen wearing items from the Crown Jewels, the Royal Diamond Diadem crown she wears in the Raphael Maklouf portrait used in Australia from 1985 to 1998. Jody Clarks initials J.C appear just below the new portrait

Our 88 year old Queen has featured on Australia’s circulating coinage since 1952 and has been depicted with 5 differing portraits over the years. If Australia adopts the new design on it’s currency it will be the 6th design that has seen the Queen age most graciously.

50 years ago His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh declared open the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra at an official ceremony where he started the press for the first run of coin production. These coins were the first, dated 1966, of the new decimal series. Now half a century later the Mint is still churning out our circulating coins and special collector coins. To mark this special occasion the Mint is having an Open Day and releasing a special 50 cent coin. Saturday February 21st Mint visitors are invited to attend the celebrations and even purchase a ticket for a factory walk-through tour which is very rarely offered. A special gold-plated Coat of Arms 50c has been struck and will have a limited mintage of 22,265 -the date that the Mint opened.

The Open Day will feature activities and entertainment for the kids along with special displays and the walk-through tour is a must-do. Cost to visit the Mint is free but the factory tour will have a ticket charge of $5. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Canberra Mint is also the commemorative 50 cent in the 2015 mint set seen below. It’s certainly a busy time, the anniversary of decimal changeover coming up February 14th next year.

The Australian Coin Collecting Blog has just moved to it’s own new dedicated server. We’ve had to make these changes to accommodate the growing information and news on the Blog. These changes should make loading speeds faster as we’ve moved from data hosting in the East Coast USA to the West Coast USA so the data doesn’t have to travel as far to get back to readers in Australia. We hope in the coming weeks to move the server to Singapore as new server opportunities open up from our provider making speeds even faster again. Moving the site should improve the time taken to load pages and the thinking time of the calculator pages. These major hosting changes should make for a better reader experience on our site.

We’ve also added a handy new section onto the sidebar of the coin blog. The “Current Coin Values, Bullion Prices and Exchange Rates” box now tells you at a glance what the latest pricing is. These prices are updated hourly when the New York markets are open and are the most up to date. They give you the current silver price per oz converted to Australian dollars and the value of the 1966 round silver 50 cent piece. The gold price is listed per oz and the price of a sovereign and $200 gold coin is automatically determined.

We hope you find the added features useful and any feedback is welcome.

January 26th and the Royal Australian Mint popped-up a shop under the Urban Amphitheatre in Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne. It was open from 9 until 5 for the one day only and the mobile press was NOT present on the day. Under the blue tent you could swap your daggy circulation pocketchange for shiny new coins of 2015 with each denomination in the set and the commemorative 2015 ANZAC dollar. Our ever reliable Melbourne based source was at the scene along with some distinguished characters. Here’s what he had to say.

I was there quite early and met a couple of guys who had driven all the way from Geelong just to pick up the new coins. Queuing started early around 8:20am for the scheduled 9:00am opening. By the time they opened, after a few technical hitches with their tills and a leaking tent, it was 9:20am and a sizable queue had formed, with inquisitive on-lookers joining the line. Everyone seemed to be there for the swap, at least initially, with no-one buying any of NCLT items that were available. There were also a number of cosplayers in the area (as noted by the Stormtrooper in one of the photos) and I can confirm that Star-Lord, Groot and Batman himself were seen walking past, which added colour to the proceedings on a gloomy wet Melbourne day.

The Mint initially imposed a $50 limit, but I’m not sure how long that remained in effect, and I also know people were able to re-queue. The set consisted of 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent pieces, the Mob of Roos and 100 Years of ANZAC commemorative dollars and the $2. On examination I did notice that both the 20c pieces I picked up had the same discolouration mark at the base of the Queen’s neck. I’ll need to check more closely when I get home, but I have a feeling we may have a variety on our hands…