For the last 5+ years, Australia has been minting colored 2 dollar coins from 2012. Mintage figures have been quite low and trust me - once they appear in circulation, they get wiped out quite quickly, not just by collectors but by people who think they may be worth a bit more in the future. They aren't quite wrong - because of their 'scarcity', often they get sold more than face value. Put it this way, I was only lucky enough to find just 3-4. I had a mate that didn't care too much and changed it for face value. To add to the fire, Canadian Mint has threatened to sue Royal Australian Mint as Canadian Mint claimed that RAM has infringed on coloring patent. At one stage, Canadian Mint wanted RAM to destroy circulating color coins. Here's one link https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/18/royal-canadian-mint-sues-australia-possum-magic-coins This is from circulation - honestly this can take a lot of effort! Some of the mintage figures are absurdly low, one starting at just half a million... Please feel free to post any circulating color coins. I guess our Canadian friends would like to show some?
NLL, these coins do circulate however they get picked by collectors quickly. Within weeks of release, they are literally gone. Even non collectors get interested and start to collect them.
Trust me, it's even hard to find one colored coin from circulation even though they are meant to circulate. Some coins could only be obtained from Woolworths - a supermarket chain. Makes collecting very challenging!
My son did a semester abroad in Australia in the summer and fall of 2016. He brought a lot of Aussie coins back with him, including this 2016 two dollar coin with a painted inner ring. It would appear the colorant isn't all that durable. Even though the coin was relatively new when he got it, and it's been protected in a flip since he brought it home, you can see where the color has begun to flake off at the bottom of the ring. Sorry about the quick and dirty cell phone pic.
There have been cases of some fraudsters stripping the paint off using acetone and claim that they are error coins. They can come off easily but I hate to see the colors coming off. Maxfli, your son has done a good job in getting one from circulation!