2016 Greg McDonald

[Hercules]

Honestly any one that professes to be a coin collector should have a library of every book, CD, coin Journal, paper, magazine, sale brochure like Downies that you can lay your hand on. I don't claim to be a real dedicated coin collector but I have the information around me if I need it and yes that includes Greg Macs handbook and Renniks both from the 1st ed onwards.

For my first 20+ years as a coin collector, I didn't have ANY of these resources, and it's only in the last year or two that I bought a copy of Maccas and Renniks. Nevertheless, I had an almost complete collection of circulating Australian 5c-$2 coins, including the 2000 $1 mule.

Does it make me any less of a coin collector just because I got all the information I needed from checking my own and other people's change, and then used the internet to determine why there were so many "gaps" in my collection?

For me, the real fun is in noodling, not going off to Downies to buy stuff at an auction. You don't need a mass of books and magazines to do that. You just need some spare cash and a lot of luck.

[robbiegal]

Hi Guys, I read all the posts about what a book should have in it, is it an encyclopedia or is it a price book and pretty much agree with what is said, its what individuals want it to be. The one thing that stuck out to me was the notion that the information about what to collect for a pre decimal set restricted to date and die pairing does not exist. Now, I agree that you can go mad trying to collect coin errors although I have a large collection of those!  To keep sane you CAN restrict your pre decimal to a certain set that is easily, or, no so easily collected according to complexity and just date and die varieties!
That is precisely WHY I did essays on filling Dansco albums with a representative date set and for the more interested did the Ulitmate Set listings with as many die varies that I think can be easily collected. Those were fitted into those upmarket ring binders with 2x2 pages. These all appeared in that magazine the nobody buys "because it does not have anything about Australian coins in it" (ok i'm being a bit crabby there ) the CAB. That was a series from about November 2012  through to July 2015 or so and I guess the amount of effort both myself and the editor put in was a waste of time since nowhere do I ever see a reference to that work on this forum. I'm not trying to sell a book here, i'm over all that, a book is just an Albatross to make,  i'll let Greg go mad doing that which was entirely the reason for doing the magazine essays to help people and not have to print a book!. I wonder how many of you coin collectors have a full set of the CAB to refer to? I have most issues of ACR and CAB and they are a mine of information When you want to research some subject. Honestly any one that professes to be a coin collector should have a library of every book, CD, coin Journal, paper, magazine, sale brochure like Downies that you can lay your hand on. I don't claim to be a real dedicated coin collector but I have the information around me if I need it and yes that includes Greg Macs handbook and Renniks both from the 1st ed onwards. So if you are wondering what I am talking about check on those back issues, CAB, volume 15-06, 15-10, 16-04, 17-05, 1707, 17-08, 17-10 and 18-06 or photocopy the pages out of my book that's what its there for!
Cheers, Fred Lever.

I wonder how many pre-decimal collecters here have purchased your die variety reference books, Fred?
 I have always found they compliment Maccas and Rennicks and pay such attention to the variety detail and expected mmintage

Research is the key to knowledge

[runway]

Hi Guys, I read all the posts about what a book should have in it, is it an encyclopedia or is it a price book and pretty much agree with what is said, its what individuals want it to be. The one thing that stuck out to me was the notion that the information about what to collect for a pre decimal set restricted to date and die pairing does not exist. Now, I agree that you can go mad trying to collect coin errors although I have a large collection of those!  To keep sane you CAN restrict your pre decimal to a certain set that is easily, or, no so easily collected according to complexity and just date and die varieties!
That is precisely WHY I did essays on filling Dansco albums with a representative date set and for the more interested did the Ulitmate Set listings with as many die varies that I think can be easily collected. Those were fitted into those upmarket ring binders with 2x2 pages. These all appeared in that magazine the nobody buys "because it does not have anything about Australian coins in it" (ok i'm being a bit crabby there ) the CAB. That was a series from about November 2012  through to July 2015 or so and I guess the amount of effort both myself and the editor put in was a waste of time since nowhere do I ever see a reference to that work on this forum. I'm not trying to sell a book here, i'm over all that, a book is just an Albatross to make,  i'll let Greg go mad doing that which was entirely the reason for doing the magazine essays to help people and not have to print a book!. I wonder how many of you coin collectors have a full set of the CAB to refer to? I have most issues of ACR and CAB and they are a mine of information When you want to research some subject. Honestly any one that professes to be a coin collector should have a library of every book, CD, coin Journal, paper, magazine, sale brochure like Downies that you can lay your hand on. I don't claim to be a real dedicated coin collector but I have the information around me if I need it and yes that includes Greg Macs handbook and Renniks both from the 1st ed onwards. So if you are wondering what I am talking about check on those back issues, CAB, volume 15-06, 15-10, 16-04, 17-05, 1707, 17-08, 17-10 and 18-06 or photocopy the pages out of my book that's what its there for!
Cheers, Fred Lever.

Fred you are spot on I have every Macca guide,Renniks books and CAB magazine as well as your cds they are all valuable for information in my eyes as a numismatic collector :wavemulticolor:

[Hercules]

This is what I have so far:

• Australian Coins and Banknotes - Greg McDonald - 21st Edition
• Australian Coins and Banknotes - Greg McDonald - 22nd Edition
• Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values - Michael Pitt (editor) - 26th Edition
• Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal Coin Varieties - Ian McConnelly - 2nd Edition
• Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors - Ian McConnelly (editor) - 1st Edition
• The Australasian Coin & Banknote Magazine - October 2016
• The Australasian Coin & Banknote Magazine - April 2017
• The John Bertrand New Zealand Coin & Banknote Catalogue - Anthony W. Grant - 2016 Edition
• Fred Lever's Reference Book - Australian Pre-Decimal and Decimal Variety and Error Coins - 2016 Edition

I purchased all these books within the last couple of years, and I simply cannot afford any more, except for the 23rd edition of Maccas (which I have already bought) and the 3rd edition of McConnelly (which I will be buying later this year).

Even if I could afford them, I don't think I'd have enough space to store them, which is why I'll be getting rid of the old editions of Maccas when the new edition arrives.

[JeffH]

With old Maccas I no longer want I find a young/new collector and give it to them. Much appreciated and still a fantastic numismatic educational aid for a newbie.

[Hercules]

With old Maccas I no longer want I find a young/new collector and give it to them. Much appreciated and still a fantastic numismatic educational aid for a newbie.

Good idea. I'm planning to give them to another family member, but if they don't want either of them, I'll see if I can find another collector who does. :good:

[Basil]

With old Maccas I no longer want I find a young/new collector and give it to them. Much appreciated and still a fantastic numismatic educational aid for a newbie.

Yep,also the binding doesn't last with constant use so i scanned all the pages into my computer,although it was around 5 years old its still a good guide.
I also printed pre-dec Coins/Notes sheets out,blown up to A4, so super easy to read late at night when trawling Ebay and Auction sites.

[fred lever]

This is what I have so far:

• Australian Coins and Banknotes - Greg McDonald - 21st Edition
• Australian Coins and Banknotes - Greg McDonald - 22nd Edition
• Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values - Michael Pitt (editor) - 26th Edition
• Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal Coin Varieties - Ian McConnelly - 2nd Edition
• Renniks Australian Pre-Decimal & Decimal Coin Errors - Ian McConnelly (editor) - 1st Edition
• The Australasian Coin & Banknote Magazine - October 2016
• The Australasian Coin & Banknote Magazine - April 2017
• The John Bertrand New Zealand Coin & Banknote Catalogue - Anthony W. Grant - 2016 Edition
• Fred Lever's Reference Book - Australian Pre-Decimal and Decimal Variety and Error Coins - 2016 Edition

I purchased all these books within the last couple of years, and I simply cannot afford any more, except for the 23rd edition of Maccas (which I have already bought) and the 3rd edition of McConnelly (which I will be buying later this year).

Even if I could afford them, I don't think I'd have enough space to store them, which is why I'll be getting rid of the old editions of Maccas when the new edition arrives.

Hi Hercules, that's a pretty good up to date spread of reference books especially the McConnelly errors and varieties edition. I thought that was an excellent edition in starting to separate errors from varities and showing the types of errors. I guess i'm old enough to have accumulated stuff from the 1940's on wards and I never threw anything out!!!
Cheers, Fred.

[Hercules]

Hi Hercules, that's a pretty good up to date spread of reference books especially the McConnelly errors and varieties edition. I thought that was an excellent edition in starting to separate errors from varities and showing the types of errors. I guess i'm old enough to have accumulated stuff from the 1940's on wards and I never threw anything out!!!
Cheers, Fred.

Hi Fred,

I don't think you should throw anything out, because we always need a few old copies just for reference, and because you're an author, that makes it doubly important. However, I don't think the average collector needs all those old copies, because I trust that you and your fellow authors preserve all the important information in future editions.

For the record, I started coin collecting when I was about 4 years old, when my mother gave me a bunch of foreign and commemorative coins. These included the 1977 Silver Jubilee 50c, the 1982 Commonwealth Games 50c, a few NZ coins, and a Netherlands 25c. Over the years, I added other commemorative coins to the set, including the 1970 Captain Cook 50c, the 1988 First Fleet 50c, the 1994 Year of the Family 50c, the 1995 Weary Dunlop 50c, the 1986 International Year of Peace $1, the 1988 $1, the 1993 Landcare $1, the 1996 Parkes $1 and the 1997 Kingsford-Smith $1. I always thought the 1988 $1 commemorated the Brisbane Expo, but having read some of the recent coin catalogues, I'm not so sure now.

Anyway, when I reached the age of 10, my father started giving me all those foreign coins his work colleagues had brought back from overseas, and I think this inspired me to try to obtain a complete set of circulating Australian 5c-$2 coins. I obtained most of them during the late 1990s, but there were always a recalcitrant few that took me years and years to find, including the 1972 5c, the 1995 United Nations 20c, the 1985 50c and the 1993 50c.

I didn't have any contact with the numismatics community during this period, because I didn't even know that it existed, and it wasn't until the late 2000s when I had the internet that I realised there were other people just like me. Anyway, this is when I first heard about the 2000 mule, and much to my delight, I found one in change just two months later. Since then, it's been a constant battle to keep my coin collection up-to-date, with some of the mintages being so low that I gave up looking for them in change and started noodling, which I hadn't done on a large scale since the early 2000s.

Thanks to all this noodling, I now have a complete set of circulating Australian 5c-$2 coins from 1966 to 2015 (excluding the 1966 50c), and thanks to the advice I received on CCF last year, I now have several coin catalogues, so I don't have to keep asking for information that's already readily available. I realise that people spent lots of time and effort compiling these catalogues, so I refer back to them wherever possible. However, I'm not yet persuaded that I need every single issue of the Australasian Coin & Banknote Magazine, so if you're able to explain to me why I can't live without it, it would be much appreciated.

Hercules

[Hercules]

My copy of Maccas just arrived, and it's clear that he's spent a lot of time on it. However, I'm surprised that some of the errors I reported in the last edition still remain, like where it says on p. 495 that first and last prefix test $100 notes are worth less than their face value when in fine condition. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't sell a $100 note for $95, no matter how bad a condition it was in, so I hope Greg fixes this ASAP.

On the other hand, I find it interesting that Greg says an uncirculated $5 note dated 2014 is worth $9-10. I've never seen a 2014-dated $5 note in real life, and I doubt anyone else on this forum has either, so I'm curious to know where he got this figure from. Does Greg have a secret supply of 2014-dated $5 notes that he hasn't told us about? If so, I'd be very willing to buy some off him.

[Greg McDonald]

Hi Hercules,

Thanks for the comments.  Take you point about the $100 notes at $95. I'll take that on board as brain fatigue. I honestly don't remember you bringing this to my attention as it is something I generally fix up immediately in case I forget.  There is always a lot swirling around my head when working on these books.  I think we are now over 45,000 individual prices so it's a lot to absorb and defy the fact that we all make mistakes.

Also well picked with the 2014 $5 note.  I was in a bit of a bind with this one. When I was searching for a price for these notes, different dealer adverts either said "out of stock"  "n/a" or "awaiting." so there were no warning signs here that the notes were rare.  The fact that the Reserve Bank has indicated that notes were indeed printed that year and the prefixes  BA to EA are the same as those issued in 2012, 2013 and 2015 and with the exception of the last prefix 2015, all the other notes are common and sell for the prices indicated.

The thing is, and always has been, that the actual minting and printing of coins and banknotes and the actual distribution are two different things.  Coins and banknotes can sit in central bank vaults for years after being produced if there is no consumer driven need to push them out into circulation.  Classic case of this was the 1996 issue of $100. As hysteria gained traction that the electronic world would collapse in the year 2000 the Reserve Bank ordered the printing of a huge amount to $100 to cover us if credit cards failed to work.  It took 12 years to use up the amount of notes that were socked away.

Until someone tells me that the 2014 issue was turned into rain pipes,  I'm going to be on the conservative side and assume they are sitting behind a few pallet loads of the new $5 notes that will be used first. If all the 2014 notes go into circulation, they will be worth what I have said in the book.  At this stage I think that's better than saying they must be worth $100 each because they are scarce.  Another factor is that the notes might be scarce in your general area.  When it comes to normal circulation coins and notes there are no hard and fast rules saying that a new issue must be evenly distributed around the country. Some areas can get the lion share of any issue.  Examples of this go back as far as 1925 when collectors found that the coin was hard to find in change on the eastern seaboard but common enough in Perth.  Again, most of the DPS $1 test notes found their way to Tasmania.
It could also be that the 2014 $5 notes have all been released with most being sent to airports around the world and in the safes of Bureau de Change booths. We just don't know at this stage.  
I could be wrong on all counts and I honestly don't know the answer at this stage.  I have worked on a price given the information I had and how distribution can be a major factor. Anyway Hercules,  I am sure we can all rely on you checking the change and alerting us if you find one. And, sorry mate, I don't a stash of 2014 five cent pieces, let alone five dollar notes!!

[frenc11]

got my book today ,  a bit late for fathers day , but i am happy to finally get it

[Hercules]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your response. I did a survey of over 500 $5 notes during April and May last year, and I had almost thrice as many 2012s in my sample as 2013s, even though the production of the 2012s was only about 50% higher than the 2013s. This suggests to me that most of the 2013s are still in storage, so there's Buckley's hope of the 2014s and 2015s ever being released into circulation.

The feedback I gave was in this thread: https://www.australian-coins.net/showthread.php?tid=4024&page=3. Please scroll down to Post #29 and you'll see it.

Hercules
I just noticed another mistake. The 2015 $5 and $10 notes are listed as being Stevens/Parkinson releases, when they're actually Stevens/Fraser releases. Poor Martin Parkinson got sacked at the end of 2014 because the Coalition didn't like his support of "Labor" policies. However, I don't blame you for this. I blame the rapid turnover of prime ministers and partisan political point-scoring, which is giving me a migraine. :kez_11:

[kchan1111]

Thanks Shane. Got my book today just in time for the weekend. That was very quick!

Gave it a quick flick through... why are some prices in red?

[Bigfellani5]

Thanks Shane. Got my book today just in time for the weekend. That was very quick!

Gave it a quick flick through... why are some prices in red?

Footy finals, beer, maccas book. What more could you want :dodgy:


Btw. Got an email late today. Renniks cattle dog out in December. Will be starting to take pre orders next week.