First Australian Half Dollar (1966)
Hi All,
Came across this round 50 cent coin and thought I'd blog about it. It's nothing super special, but there is a little bit of cool Australian history behind it, and of course it's not like the coins of today.
The Decimal Switchover
On Valentine's day 1966 Australia's love affair with the pound was over. No more pounds, shillings and pence - 56 years of normality wiped away. Fortunately, there was a silver lining, and the 50 cent coin became very popular for one reason.
Plenty of Silver
The 1966 round 50 cent coin contains around 13.28 grams of pure silver. At the time, this did not go unnoticed by households, some collecting them, realising that they were worth more in silver, than the face value of the coin. Even today, most of the 18 million coins produced, despite being in average to poor condition are still worth just over $7 for their silver value alone.
If you do happen to come across one of these coins, hold onto it, if nothing else for a bit of cool history and the inherent silver value.
Thank you,
gio6
References
https://www.australian-coins.com/collecting-coins/round-50c-piece-value/
The Perth Mint
Oi @goi6, the decimal 1966 50c piece is super special down here in Aussie. It is a cult classic. I am not sure of any Aussies stack that is complete without a fair few decimal 50c pieces.
Here is a quick photo I took of some of mine. I love 'em. At the right price I would buy as many as I can get my hands on.
Thanks for the post mate, love seeing the 1966 50c piece getting some coverage on Steemit, made my night.
Oi @strenue I'm Aussie too mate!!!
Haha nice one... I am actually a Saffa, living over here on a Kiwi passport... I am married to an Aussie though and have three Aussie kids.
I do love the round 50c though it is one my all time fav silver coins that have been in circulation.
Your love for the Australian silver 50 cents is the same that I have for the Canadian silver 50 cents. I have dozens of them.
Thanks for sharing, been living in australia for 5 years and had no clue this even existed and now i've discovered they are an iconic aussie thing! Wow, this is some good TIL stuff! I'm going to keep an eye out for them from now on!
@gidrel, this forum is by far the best place to find well priced Aussie silver. It is a gold and silver trading forum.
https://www.silverstackers.com
It was through this forum that I got started stacking. If you do check it out, I am strenue on there too.
Thank you, you picked my curiosity. I'm gonna have a look at it later!
First stop @strenue, he will sort you out:)
Hey there, great post very interesting, I think your18m is a bit low they actual minted 36 454 000 coins, cheers mate.
Thanks for that, I guess the newspapers are not always right 🤣🤣
Have a look at this site, you might find it pretty interesting, cheers mate.
https://www.australian-coins.com/collecting-coins/complete-guide-australian-50-cent-coins/