Don’t Do This With Your Australian Coin Collection // Gold and Silver Lesson

We often hear the term "intrinsic value" in the coin industry, but have you ever considered how one would go about extracting that value from a coin. Surely it would involve melting down the coin and refining the precious metals right?

Well before you go any further make sure you take a look at this video!

Thanks for watching and for a wide range of coins, banknotes and collectables come on down to www.ThompsonsCoins.com

Disclaimer: This video is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

43 Comments on “Don’t Do This With Your Australian Coin Collection // Gold and Silver Lesson”

  1. The breadth of content on your YouTube channel, within the singular field of numismatics, is impressive, informative, and entertaining. Keep up the great work!

  2. A little known Australian law that is still in law in Western Australia, that forces you to spend money is: That when you turn up to a pub, and tie up your horse out front, the publican serves you your first beer for free. Now there use to be 30+ odd pubs in Kalgoorlie Western Australia. You’d want to hope that after drinking 30+ free beers, that your horse knew the way home. A X flatmate who studied law informed me of that one!

    1. @PeeCee back when a man would walk 800kms on the hope of finding Gold, I can guarantee that this law was enforced as water was scarcer than beer.

  3. I think we need a video of a trip to the Reserve Bank swapping bags of pre-decimal pennies into decimal currency

  4. Awesome vid Matt … canadain old silver were 80% … I have alot of world silver coins … wish I had a few hunder$ worth of your aussie silver

    1. Thanks for watching William! I love the old Canadian coins too, it’s a shame our circulating coins no longer have a precious metal component 😭

    1. Thanks for watching! I’ve actually just finished filming a video on pennies which touches on halfpennies but I’m sure there’s enough content to warrant a stand-alone video at some stage 😄

  5. Another great video Matt, I wasn’t aware that pre decimal were still legal currency. Thought that went out the window in 66.
    I’m sure there’s still plenty of odd laws out there…

  6. I have seen SO MANY doing this lately…I will say that most have used silver rounds or coins from outside of the country….I wonder if the US would extradite if an American were to smelt a Maple!

    1. To my knowledge, rounds are not a problem for melting down/repurposing.

      Based on some of the quality I’ve seen on old maples, any repurposing would probably be an improvement 😂 I say that with love though, maples are my favourite generic bullion coin!

      Thanks for stopping by! 😊

  7. I’ve got a copy of that book in my numismatic library. It seems to be becoming harder and harder to find over the years though, like any good coin literature I guess

    1. David Gee was actually a customer at one of the coin shops I managed but unfortunately it was a little before my time so I never got to meet him! The book would be the next best thing 😎

  8. I like the 1966 Australian 50c coins so much, I have accumulated 38 BU specimens and whereas it’s legal in Canada to melt them, I would never do it. However, I am guilty of melting 12 1964 Bermuda crowns, leaving only 8 in my stack. I did ask the melters to try and sell them since they were all nice BU. Their “sacrifice” did help to build up my gold collection, however.

    1. Thanks for watching! That’s really interesting! So when you go to the melters, are they charging you a fee to melt your coins?

  9. Thankyou very much Matt!
    I had no idea that all our old coins except for the dumpy one are still legal tender. It makes sense now that I think about it. So long as I don’t think tooo much. 🥴😁!
    Cya later Matt Thompson!

  10. Do you have any other suggestions? I have some old silver 50c coins lying around, I’m assuming they’re worth more than face value? Even if it was legal, I’m guessing melting them for the silver wouldn’t be the most profitable thing to do with them.

    1. All of Australian pre decimal silver coins have a silver component to them as well as the old gold sovereigns but you’re right, melting them down even if you were to venture that route will not yield the best possible return. There are a number of coin dealers around who may be able to assist with the sale of your coin collection as well as various online platforms that allow you sell your coins.

      Thanks for watching!

  11. What you’re saying is true, but there is an unspoken truth with anything traded as bullion, at some point it will be re-purposed as silver. In terms of actual prosecution, I believe it’s as closely followed as media piracy

  12. Me with my coin ring 👀 nah i don’t think they care about small scale things for personal use, particularly with outdated coinage. Makes sense that the law is there, if somebody were melting down a million 5c coins to sell the scrap for profit that might be an issue 😂

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