Valuing Pre-Decimal Coins
We get a lot of folks asking us what they should do with their old hoards of pre-decimal Australian coins. So we thought we’d give you a summary of what to consider when it comes to these older coins.
What are Pre-Decimal Coins?
The coins we know and love right now, were first introduced in 1966. These are referred to as ‘Decimal’ coins, due to them using base-10 numerology (i.e. 100 cents to 1 dollar).
Before that, we had a different selection of coins: Half-Penny, Penny, Threepence, Sixpence, Shilling and Florin. There was also a Crown, which was only issued briefly – and Pounds, which were only ever in banknote form.
This system of currency was taken from the British system, and was in use from 1910 until decimalisation came in. There were 12 pence to a Shilling,and 20 Shillings to a Pound. (The Florin was 2 Shillings with the Crown being 5 Shillings).
What should I look out for?
Check your dates
There are some particularly important coins that will always be worth more than their counterparts. Some are extremely rare, either because not many were made or not many have survived.
Known as ‘key’ dates, these are the first thing you should look for. Some are valuable in any condition, whilst others are only rare in higher grades.
Check your silvers
Whilst the penny (and half-penny) were made from copper – all other pre-decimal coins contained silver. With the value of Silver being much more today, this is gives an added value to many pre-decimal coins that would otherwise be worth very little.
The earliest pre-decimal coins also contained a higher percentage of silver than the later ones.
Many folks will buy poor-condition pre-decimal silver coins purely for their silver content value. The value of silver changes constantly (like a stock price) so the price will vary, but it is a relatively nice way to earn some money from old coins without having to consider specific dates or condition.
Check your conditions
If you have any coins that stand out from the crowd as great condition, make a note of those too. Whilst some later years (particularly the 1960s) are not worth too much more than the silver content even in top condition – many years can be.
Also note that they also made Proof sets for collectors in pre-decimal times. Normally these would be in a presentation case. These are valued very differently and considered as different coins to their circulating counterparts, due to their higher quality and much lower mintages.
Prices will vary depending on the year. Earlier years are extremely sought after.
Getting a Value
Look it up
Values for specific coins will vary over time, as demand rises and falls along with the wider economy and appetite for coins. However, there are online and printed price guides that will help give you an idea of which coins might be worth more than others.
Renniks publishes a comprehensive book that covers pre-decimal and decimal releases. A new edition is published each year. While the prices are obviously not trustable for an entire year, they are good for comparing one coin to another, or one condition to another.
If you don’t feel the need to purchase a book, there are online price guides such as The Blue Sheet. This is widely trusted by the industry as a reference.
Again, prices shown are no guarantee of what you will get, but definitely give you an indication of whether you’re sitting on a gold mine or a dud.
Look at eBay
As well as being a hugely popular marketplace, eBay is a fantastic tool for price discovery. You can search not only for what people are asking, but what things have actually sold for, which can provide a much more accurate picture. If you believe you just have coins fit only for Silver value – then don’t expect a coin dealer to be too interested, unless the price is right!
A simple search on a term, such as “1958 florin” will show you what is available to buy or bid on right now. But if you click on ‘Advanced Search’ and select ‘Sold Items’ you will see recently completed sales and the price they were.
Ask a Dealer
If you want a definitive opinion on value, and possibly to get an offer on your coins, then consulting a professional coin dealer is also a smart move. Not all of them will specialise in pre-decimal coins, or may only be interested in specific areas or rarer types.
All of them will expect you to have done at least some of the preliminary homework mentioned in the section above. Come prepared with a list of coin denominations and years, and mention any key dates or stand-out conditions.
Selling
If you’ve determined that your coins have interest to collectors (key dates or great condition, etc) then your main choices would be:
- Sell through an auction house
- Sell on eBay
- Sell to a dealer
All options will cost you something, either in the price offered or in fees. Auctions offer the best chance to get a higher sale price, as bidders get into a war with each other – especially if the coin has particularly desirable features or rarely comes up for sale.
If entertaining offers to buy from a dealer, understand that they are not buying it for themselves, but to resell. As such, their price will include room for them to make some profit, so don’t expect their offers to match the highest prices achieved elsewhere. However, you may get lucky if the dealer has someone already lined up that is after what you have to offer.
eBay charges fees to list items as well as a portion of what they sell for. Expect to lose around 13% of the final sale price to fees. You are obviously also responsible for taking quality photos and describing the items in the listing. In return though – you get free exposure to millions of collectors.
If you’re only looking for silver value – you can offload to a specialist in scrap silver quite easily, but like with dealers, they need to make their cut, so don’t expect to get the exact silver value for them.
Alternatively you could list a bulk silver lot on eBay as an auction. Most silver auctions, if clearly labelled, will quickly get bids close to the melt value of the silver content.