Every Australian silver coins collector’s desire is to locate that one coin that justifies all of their time, effort, and filthy hands. The modest $1 coin is one of the most highly sought denominations. So, as a serious coin collector, how do you know which Australian dollar coins to look for? This post will go through the top four valuable Australian dollar coins.
Mules, for starters.
Mules are coins made with coin dies that weren’t designed to be used together. There are at least three mules worth money in the Australian dollar coin series. The first is the renowned year 2000 $1/10c mule, which would be worth a few hundred dollars today (March 2021) if found in your change. The Anzac $1 / 10c mules from 2014 and 2015 are the other two mules to keep an eye out for. Both of them were struck by mistake with 10 cent heads dies, and only a few have been discovered. If you’re lucky enough to locate one, it might be worth thousands of dollars.
- Mob of a roos dollar coin, 1992
Legends surround the 1992 mob of a roos dollar coin. For years, the Royal Australian mint’s website claimed that thousands of coins had been produced, while in reality, practically none had been produced or they had all been destroyed. Only two or three have been sold in our years of following the mistake coin market, and those were for tens of thousands of dollars. So, what is the moral of the story? Whether you’re looking for dollar coins and come across one dated 1992, make sure to flip it over and look at the reverse design to determine if it’s a legitimate coin!
- Wrong planchets for dollar coins
Coinage is struck on metal discs known as blanks or planchets, as anybody with even the most rudimentary understanding of coins would know. Any coin mint would obviously prefer that they be struck on the correct blanks or planchets. However, this is not always the case, leading to an incorrect planchet mistake. There have been multiple occurrences like this in the dollar coin series, each of which is worth a substantial sum of money. The 1984 dollar struck on a ten-cent planchet and the 2009 Australian mob of roos dollar struck on bi-metal planchet are two notable examples to keep an eye out for.
- Upset dollar coins from the federation’s centennial
Make sure the head and tails sides of each 2001 centenary of federation $1 coin are the same way up! The obverse (heads) die of one pair of dies fell loose during the production process, and a large number of coins (several thousand) were struck with the head/tails dies not correctly orientated. Upset coin mistakes are what they’re called. These faults aren’t really valuable, but finding one would definitely get you a great pint at the local bar. It’s certainly valuable enough to not want to re-circulate!
