The Numismatic Association of Australia, Australia’s major numismatic body will be holding a conference at the Naval & Military Club in Adelaide in August. We’ve attended one of these conferences previously and the talks given by subject matter experts are always interesting and educational. The Conference is being held on the weekend of 19th & 20th of August and the venue is right in the middle of Adelaide (click here for a map).
If you’re interested in attending you can register on the NAA website here. Cost is $170 for the two days and this includes two catered lunches at the Naval & Military Club as well as morning/afternoon tea on both days. If you’re a member of the Numismatic Society of South Australia then the cost is just $70 for both days.
In some rather exciting news Kathryn and I have obtained an Olympus Vanta XRF metal testing device for use in The Purple Penny. This rather nifty device will allow us to non destructively test coins and other precious metals and adds a real string to our bow here in the shop.
VANTA XRF Tester
You can see our new Vanta XRF tester above. This will allow us to:
More easily determine authenticity of silver and gold coins.
Easily check the gold or silver content of coins.
Check the gold or silver content of bullion.
Provide our customers with certainty when they are purchasing gold or silver from us.
Test things very quickly (less than 15 seconds) and non-destructively (no acid, no water, no scratching).
When we test something metallic we get a read-out that you can see below. This is easily read and understood and provides you (and us) with certainty when we are buying or selling gold or silver.
The Purple Penny was the target of coin theft that occurred on August 28th 2020. A man and a woman visited our shop on Hurtle Parade in Mawson Lakes on Friday afternoon and stole an album of coins. The details of the theft can be found in the police link below and your help with identification of the offenders is appreciated. Please share the post and call Crime Stoppers if you have any information 1800 333 000. South Australia Police Facebook post
A black Purple Penny album (without the slipcover) was taken containing many coins all of which are errors and varieties. These were Australian pre-decimal halfpennies, pennies, threepences, sixpences, shillings and florins with minor errors. These may be planchet flaws, edge bites, partial collar errors, broadstrikes, cuds, split planchets and varieties. The album also contained some world errors in particular from New Zealand and Great Britain. (Left) Example of Error Coin in Saflip with Price Label (Right) Folder Insert
Some of the stolen coins exactly as imaged are seen below. If you see these exact coins we urge you to contact Police.
Australian has a long history of producing enamelled badged for commemorative, celebratory, and fund raising purposes. Australian enamel badges can be found dating from the late 19th century to the modern day. World War 1 through to the 1950’s was really the hey-day of the production for Australian enamelled badged. The most popular types of enamelled badges include sporting, fund-raising, military, and society badges. For example, enamelled regimental badges from the Australian Imperial force of World War 1 are extremely popular and command very high prices. The same can be said of sporting badges from World War 2 and earlier, with (as you’d expect) AFL, Rugby League, and Cricket badges being among the most collectable. If you’re interested in fund-raising badges then generally the higher denomination badges are more collectable and have a higher valued, this is simply because less of the higher denomination badges were sold during.
Australia Day 1917 Gilt with Blue Enamel Badge
Other areas of interest are Australia Day badges, radio club badges, bowling club badges, nurses badges, Red Cross badges, sporting club badges, trades union badges, and RSL badges. Generally the collector base for these types of badges is smaller and the prices for quality items can be less.
When you’re looking at purchasing Australian enamel badges then condition is usually paramount. Ideally all the enamel would be present and there would be no discolouration. If the badge is gilt metal then the gilding would also be fully present and not damaged. The pin and latch on the reverse of the badge should also be fully intact and not too badly bent. Of course you’ll find that base metal badges tend to sell for less than silver badges, and similarly gold badges command the biggest premium. This is a combination of the value of the metal but also the scarcity of the numbers of precious metal enamelled badges that were released.
circa 1917 Australian Children’s Patriotic Fund War Service Badge
If you’re looking for the value of any Australian enamel badges then you could Contact Us or trying searching past auction results on a site like Noble Numismatics.
The Purple Penny Coins deals in an extensive range of Australian and world gold coins. We pay top prices when you want to sell your gold coins and have very competive prices when selling old gold coins. Call us on 0422 977 753 or visit our retail store in Mawson Lakes if you have gold coins to sell or want to buy gold coins.
We Are Gold Coin Buyers
The Purple Penny is always interested in buying gold coins from anywhere in the world. Coins we always like to purchase include Australian and British gold sovereigns and half sovereigns. Top prices are also paid for coins from other countries such as French 20 franc roosters or gold angels, German or Austrian 10 or 20 mark coins, and 10 franc coins from Switzerland. If your gold coin is heavily worn and has no real numismatic value then we will generally pay close to the gold bullion price that your coin contains. Gold coins that are in better condition and have numismatic value will often be purchased for more than the gold value your old gold coin contains.
If you have one or one hundred gold coins to sell then The Purple Penny is always interested in buying.
We Sell Gold Coins
We always have a range of Australian and World Gold coins available for purchase from our online coin shop or from our retail store in Mawson Lakes. The Purple Penny specialises in Australian gold sovereigns and half sovereigns, and 999 gold bullion coins from the Royal Australian Mint or The Perth Mint. Often we have a number of PCGS graded gold coins for you to purchase online or from our shop. Please please call us on 0422 977 753 if there’s ever a gold coin you want to buy and we do not have it in stock. We can always call on our wide network of contacts try to source a coin for you!
We are delighted to announce that Adelaide coin shop in the northern suburb of Mawson Lakes, South Australia will be opening on Wednesday 15th of May 2019. This will be Adelaide’s newest coin shop and we’ll be stocking our full range of Australian pre-decimal coins, world coins, PCGS graded coins, coin errors, and archival safe coin accessories.
We’ll also be buying coins, coin errors, banknotes, medals, medallions, stamps and collections that anyone might want to sell! Just pop in and see us!
Kathryn Speaking with Nine Reporter Via Phone Link and Cameraman John
We recently spoke with a reporter for Channel 9 news about coloured $2 coins and their interest to collectors and I mentioned an error coin that came through our hands recently. That coin was the 2019 Mr Squiggle Bill the Steam Shovel that was mistakenly printed with the colour on the wrong side of the coin. Such an obviously wrong coin with the coloured circle over the Queen’s portrait this coin sold for a 4 figure sum over $6,500. The news couldn’t believe what they’d heard that an error coin made that much money in the marketplace. With only a handful of these bullseye or paint on the wrong side error coins this was the first known on a Mr Squiggle series issue. Before we knew it we had a news crew at our new shop (more details on that soon) filming for a story featuring the recently sold error coin.
The news story aired on Friday 26th April 2019 to Brisbane local audiences and mentioned the “finder” of the coin almost spent the $2 on a loaf of bread. An interesting extension of that story is that the error coin surfaced in Tasmania, the husband found the “funny looking” $2 in the console of the car and spoke to his wife about the coin to which she said bring it home and I’ll take a look. Later the coin could not be found and after a search of the house it turned up in the back of the couch!! The Purple Penny was then contacted for coin error advice and the rest is history.
The Purple Penny has a new phone number. You can now contact us on 0422 977 753. That’s 04229 PRPLE for those intrigued by the number choice! We look forward to hearing from you if you want to sell or buy coins in particular if you are in Adelaide. We buy coins Australia wide, take a look at our Google reviews from customers of The Purple Penny. If you are looking to purchase have a browse of what we have for sale, pop the items in your shopping cart or call or email us about something specific you are looking for.
A bug in the WordPress update has rendered our newly listed items page currently displaying items in the incorrect order. This problem is being looked into and hopefully will be rectified soon. We apologise this site feature is currently unavailable to our customers.
As a workaround for the time being all new items will feature on the webshop home page so they can be easily found.
It’s been 2 months since we launched the new revamped website and feedback has been fantastic, thank you. The customer experience has improved and we’re happy to say that sales are up too! We have been listing some new items and freshly graded coins just back from PCGS. A highlight has been a New Zeand 1955 proof shilling that was quick to sell.
This week we’ve listed up some fantastic British coins that include 1892, 1901, and 1908 maundy sets and a superb red 1899 GB penny.
On the Australian front we have just listed a 1938 threepence, and 1938 sixpence both in PCGS MS66 and both equal finest graded.
