I hope all fans of the original Batman TV show will forgive me for the thread title. When I first stumbled across information about Australia's first coins, I thought I had to have one. Then I learned how few survived the past 200 years! The short story is that in 1813, a lack of coinage in Australia's New South Wales colony lead to the interesting solution of the "Holey Dollar". 10,000 Spanish 8 Reale coins were modified by punching out the center and counterstamping the two resulting pieces to use as currency! The outer ring (Holey Dollar) became a legal 5 Shilling coin and the center (the Dump) was 15 Pence. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holey_dollar for more details. In 2013, the Perth Mint was authorized to make up to 4,000 sets commemorating this first Australian coinage. I was happy to pick this up this week for well under the issue price and I think it is very cool! The obverse of these new coins does not match the originals due to the need to make them legal tender at 1 Dollar and 25 cents. The Reverses, though, are a pretty close match to the originals. The new coins also total 1 oz. of fine silver. Neat nod to history, especially since originals are pretty much unobtainable. Let me know what you think! Rob
One of the original Holey`s was stolen very recently. Keep your eyes peeled. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/rare-coin...rom-state-library-of-nsw-20140808-101xgi.html
BTW, what's the diameter on your holey? Are these made to the same specs as the originals? I mean other than the mirror finish... These are cool.
