Australia’s time-travelling $1 coins

Australian $1 coins marked with the letters A, U and S

I was at work yesterday, midway through reading a rather dull and laborious report when a loud, animated discussion between two colleagues in the hall outside my office caught my ear. It was more than the usual work banter; there was genuine excitement in their voices, so naturally, I did what anyone would do—I put the boring report aside and stuck my head out to see what was going on.

It turned out that one of them had noticed that a $1 coin he’d received in change from the café up the road was minted in 2019. Now, just in case you’re reading this post in the future, I’ll clarify, the date this happened was 2 November 2018.

Knowing that minting errors can make coins considerably more valuable than their face value, my colleagues were enthusiastically discussing how much this time travelling coin might be worth. Unfortunately for the coin's owner, about two minutes and a couple of google searches later we found out—just $1.

You see, in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Australian $1 coin, the Royal Australian Mint has just released three million specially marked $1 coins.

The coins, all of which have been dated 2019, and marked with the letters A, U, or S as well as a small 35 on the face were minted for the nation’s first national coin hunt. A competition that some Australian media outlets have dubbed a ‘Willy Wonka style treasure hunt.’

Officially called, Australia’s Dollar Discovery, the competition encourages members of the public to collect all three specially marked coins for a chance to win one of eight trips to the Nation’s capital. There, the winners will stay at Jamala Wildlife Lodge at the National Zoo and Aquarium and get the rare opportunity to mint their very own one-kilogram pure silver coin.

So, if coins are your thing, start collecting. The competition runs from 1 November 2018 until 14 May 2019, just don't expect to get any more for your time travelling coin that $1.

For more information head to: www.dollardiscovery.com.au.