Pirate Guide to Collecting Australian Coins 2025-26

This edition includes the uncirculated mintages for the coins (ie the mintages from Royal Australian Mint sets, rolls, PNCs and coin swaps), so you can see the COMPLETE mintage information for each circulated coin.

Whether you’re a new or experienced collector, this book will help you discover which coins to look for and what’s left to collect. It’s a guide to help you figure out:

• Which coins have been released into circulation over the years,
• How rare each coin is,
• What the coins look like, so you know what you’re looking for and can easily spot errors,
• Which mini-sets you can complete, and
• Common errors, varieties and mintmarks that might be more collectible or valuable.

There is one chapter for each denomination currently circulating in Australia ($2, $1, 50c, 20c, 10c & 5c) plus the 2c and 1c cent coins that were in circulation from 1966 to 1991.

Each chapter has:

• Details on the standard design for that denomination, including unusual effigies and dates,
• High-quality photos, mintages and effigy details for every special design coin released into circulation,
• Alternative versions of coins, such as C-Mintmarks, privy marks, and unusual effigies/dates,
• Scoreboards to show the five lowest mintage coins among the special design coins,
• Errors and varieties unique to certain coins, with instructions on how to spot them!

There is also a chapter about the various effigies and designs used on the obverse (heads side) of Australian Coins, including information about errors and subtle changes to watch for.

The Two Dollar chapter includes details of the following special releases from retailers (with photos and mintage details):

• 2016, 2020/21 and 2024 Olympics sets,
• 2017 Possum Magic set,
• 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games sets,
• 2019 Mr Squiggle set,
• 2019 Wallabies coin,
• 2020 Women’s Cricket coin,
• 2021 Wiggles set,
• 2022 Socceroos coin,
• 2023 Vegemite set,
• 2023 Matildas coins,
• 2024 NRL coins,
• 2025 Australian Open Tennis coins,
• 2025 Cake coin, and
• 2025 Wallabies/Wallaroos coins.

The One Dollar chapter showcases the coin sets released by Australia Post, including:

• Alphabet sets from 2019, 2021, & 2022,
• Dinosaur series from 2022,
• AFL coins from 2023 & 2024,
• Aussie Big Things set from 2023 & 2025, and
• Bluey ‘Dollarbuck’ Set from 2024.

This information is really hard to find in one place, especially with photos of the actual coins. This book brings all the information together for you in one place, and is up-to-date as of the end of 2025.

Updates in the 2025-26 edition:

• A wrap-up of changes to Australian coin collecting in 2025,
• Expanded information on how to safely store your coins
• A new chapter about the Heads/Obverse Side of the coins
• All of the new coins put into circulation in 2025,
• Updated mintages from the 2025 RAM annual report,
• Information about coin creation, to understand how errors occur (and determine which errors are real)
• Expanded errors section with more errors plus information about what causes the errors and how to spot them
• Uncirculated mintages for coins in circulation (so that you can see the complete mintages for coins)
• Updates to alternate coin designs (privy marks and mintmarks to check for)
• Plus a few extra surprises.