Australia Has Coin Distribution Problems
Australian Bluey Buck commemorative coin.
Is there a leak in the Australian coin distribution system? A warehouse worker has been arrested for stealing “bags” of the popular color-enhanced circulation strike 1-dollar coins celebrating the television comic character Bluey, while 2-dollar Australian Olympic and Paralympic coins meant to be available through a grocery store are showing up for sale online.
The Royal Australian Mint has fully embraced comic and pop culture-themed coins just as the United States gets ready to get involved in “ComiCoins” through an arrangement with Warner Brothers. In 2012, Australia introduced a color-enhanced circulating Remembrance Day 2-dollar coin, this being its first color-enhanced coin. Since that time, the RAM has continued to intensify its efforts to be consumer-friendly while using ever-increasing amounts of color on circulation coinage.
Among the highlights of this eye-catching effort is a 2015 2-dollar commemorating the poem In Flanders Fields. This was followed by six 2016 Australia Olympic Team coins released through a partnership with Woolworths grocery stores. Each of these coins is both color-enhanced and being accepted as legal tender at face value in circulation.
In 2017, Australia issued a 1-cent, four 1-dollar, and three color-enhanced 2-dollar coins celebrating the classic Australian children’s book Possum Magic. Each of these coins was meant to circulate. Among the commemoratives issued two years later were four coins featuring Mr. Squiggle, Bill the Steam Shovel, Gus the Snail, and Blackboard. The children and general public interest themes have continued.
Woolworth was once more involved in the distribution of the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup color-enhanced $2, as well as the current Olympic coin distribution.
In recent history, Australia has had many circulating commemoratives 5-, 10-, 20-, and 50-cent, as well as 1-dollar and 2-dollar coins. While the themes of many of these coins are anniversaries, a significant number of the themes involve pop cultural icons such as the recently released Bluey 1-dollar. Bluey is an Australian animated preschool television series about an anthropomorphic six-year-old puppy characterized by her energy, imagination, and curiosity. Bluey’s family joins her in imaginative play.
The Bluey commemorative 1-dollar series was launched in June as the “dollarbucks” coin collection. The coins were offered via online ballots before being distributed through authorized distributors.
On July 31, 2024, the arrest of the Strike Force Bandit (named for Bluey’s father in the show) took place in suburban Sydney’s Sefton. The arrested individual is reported to be a warehouse worker. Bluey coins and electronic devices have been seized. Police reported the detained man worked with two other male accomplices to steal the coins from the back of a truck. The coins were then sold within hours online for ten times their value.
Detective Superintendent Joseph Doueihi said, “The theft of these coins has deprived a lot of young children and members of the community of having access to these coins, so we’re doing our absolute best to try to recover these coins and put them back into circulation.”
Doueihi indicated the police raid only recovered a small number of the stolen collectibles. Most were already used in circulation, leading police to advise the public the public does not need to surrender any of the coins should they receive them in commerce.
The Strike Force Bandit isn’t the only current Australian numismatic problem. The four 2024 2-dollar Australian Olympic and Paralympic coins were meant to be paid out one per customer in change at face value from cash transactions at Woolworth grocery stores, one design being released every two weeks throughout an eight-week period.
“All coins are distributed by chance and are only available while stocks last,” according to a grocery chain statement. The coins could also be purchased for a premium through the RAM and Australia Post. A set of three 2024 Australian Olympic Team 2-dollar coins can be purchased for $20 Australian. The 2024 Australian Paralympic Team 2-dollar coins are available for $8 Australian.
Now, bags of the Olympic coins are being sold online for significant markups above face value, and the online lots aren’t being sold through Woolworths. A recent e-Bay search found a bag of 25 2-dollar coins being offered for $125 Australian through someone calling himself ollacomma, another similar bag being sold through Tasmanian Numismatics3, and a bag of 50 being sold by collectors cardhouse for $300 Australian.
A Woolworths spokesman said, “We’re aware and are currently looking into this. We don’t encourage the resale of these items, and it’s clearly unacceptable and doesn’t meet our expectations and those of the wider community.
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