Centenary Project by Rod Sell
The Australian Numismatic Society was formed in February
1913 in Sydney.
In 2003 we celebrated the 90th Anniversary by producing a medal which
was
given to all financial members.
It was also decided that we should take steps to celebrate our upcoming
centenary. I suggested a bimetallic project as these are unusual
numismatic
items. It was agreed that every year up to 2013, members would
be given
either an encased Australian coin, or a bimetallic medal. The
Canning mint
in Queensland was contacted and agreed to produce the items.
Since the ANS was started in 1913, it was decided we would encase
coins of
1913, 1938 for the 25th Anniversary, 1963 for the 50th Anniversary
and 1988
for the 75th Anniversary. The coins to be encased were the halfpenny,
the
sixpence and the shilling. These values were chosen as we had
the tooling
to produce the rings for coins of this size. The two cent, five
cent and ten cent
coins could also be used.
In July 2003 with the start of the new membership year, every financial
member was given an encased 1963 halfpenny. 1964 was the last
year of our
predecimal coins and these coins were fairly easy to obtain in high
grade
for encasing. A total of 165 were encased and distributed to
members.
In July 2004 an encased 1963 sixpence was distributed to all members.
170
were produced, again in high grade.
The 2005 coin was a bimetallic medal to commemorate the 150th Anniversary
of
the Sydney Mint. A gold coloured centre variety was available
for members to purchase.
The coin to be issued in July this year is the 1963 shilling.
Our
membership has risen in the past few years so we will have to produce
183 or
more if we get additional new members. The reverse ring shows
our old website address as these
were produced before we obtained our dedicated address.
In 2007 we will issue a bimetallic medal to celebrate the 75th Anniversary
of The Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is anticipated a gold
coloured centre will be available for purchase.
2008 is the half way mark of our Project and to celebrate 5 years to go,
we
have produced a special encased 1913 halfpenny. The item is
actually in 3
parts, there will be an aluminium ring. The centre will have
a copper ANS
logo of the Emu and Kangaroo, within this will be encapsulated the
bronze
1913 halfpenny. This medal will be 3mm thick.
2009 members will be given an encased 1938 halfpenny
2010 members will be given an encased 1938 sixpence
2011 members will be given an encased 1938 shilling
2012 members will be given an encased 1988 2 cent.
An image of a test coin using a 1966 2 cent can be seen.
2013 will be the highlight of our Project. The medal to be given
is similar
to the 2008 encased halfpenny, except we will encase a 1913 shilling.
The 1913 shilling is a difficult coin to obtain. Members
who would like a higher
quality 1913 shilling can supply their own coin, which we will encase
and return to them in the 2013 distribution.
1913shillings
for members to purchase
To ensure that the project will not run into difficulties, we have
produced
2 items each year and I hope by 2009 all the encased will have been
produced. We then only have to increase the production for new
members.
This has been a very interesting project and I am sure by 2013 members
will
be very pleased with their collection of ANS encased coins and bimetallic
medals.
To view earlier medals click here ans medals