When gold was first discovered at Ballarat buyers refused to pay the official rate. Supply and demand meant that the gold price fell below the official rate. At the time the official rate was 4 pound but the market dictated that the going rate on the Ballarat gold fields was 2 pound 15 shillings. William Joseph Taylor, a London die maker and engraver saw that there was money to be made as there was a shortage of gold coinage in the new Australian colonies.

Taylor proposed to set up a mint in Melbourne, buying gold from the diggers at market value and turning it into coins that would circulate at the official market rate of 4 pounds. The venture would be costly to set up and very likely illegal. To skirt around the law, the finished product was designed to look like paper weights rather than coinage.

Sailing from London to Melbourne in the vessel “The Kangaroo,” Taylor’s appointed manager, Reginald Scaife arrived in Melbourne on 23 October 1853 with the coin presses. Due to the inadequacies of the wharves in Melbourne, the presses were stranded on the Melbourne wharfs for six months before Taylor was forced to dismantle his coin presses. This resulted in the loss of many months production.

At this point Taylor was doomed. During the lost time a shipment of gold sovereigns arrived from London and the gold price increased to around the official rate. Against the odds Taylor pressed on. He opened the Kangaroo Office in May 1854. Taylor’s thought was that due to the agitation by the authorities to establish a branch of the Royal London Mint in Australia, the Kangaroo Office could be chosen to mint official coins. He tried to get business by striking metal tokens which he gave out at the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition.

The venture ultimately failed in 1857. Scaife left instructions to sell the coin presses and to dump the dies into Port Phillip Bay. The dies were not dumped in the bay and were later found by Stoke and Sons, the buyers of the presses. It has been estimated that Taylor and his backers lost the large sum of 15000 pounds. Several lead restrikes of the “Port Phillip” patterns were later made in 1917 for the Numismatic Society of Victoria. 

The number of original Port Phillips Patterns is unknown. It was thought that the only example was in the British Museum. Since the dies were found and the restrikes were made a number of examples have been discovered.

The RAM as part of their Masterpieces in Silver series released a set to celebrate the Port Phillip Patterns in 2003. A review of this set can be found in the September 2003 edition of the magazine.

Since I became an active member of the RAM forum postage costs on coins has been a big issue. I first dabbled with online auctions about 5 years ago and was burned by postage. The so called bargain was taken by inflated postage. I often question postage and have been hit back with replies such as “by questioning postage you have taken the fun out of ebay” and “you got the coin at a bargain price so I have to make money in some way.” There are one or two sellers that have placed me on their banned list for questioning postage. For this I am grateful as now I do not have to remember to not bid on their items.

I have been selling on ebay now for two years and now have my own online store. Since doing this I have a fair gauge of what is fair and what is not. As a coin dealer I often get questioned on postage as many buyers do not realise the true cost of postage. Given my postage bill is well over $200 a month and ever growing I will attempt to explain postage costs and the reasons for it. Keep in mind this article deals with Australian postage costs only.

The first I will discuss a mint marked $1 coin or single coins in a 2x2. Fair postage on a single coin is up to $3.00. The reason for this is that the coin must be placed between stiff cardboard then placed in a padded bag. This means the coin is now a large letter costing $1.00 to send. The padded bag can cost up to $1.20.  The 2x2 or other cardboard packaging also needs consideration. Now if the coin was packaged in anything less the risk is run where the sorting machines will damage the article. I used to post coins in normal envelopes. I have had to replace more than my fair share because of damage and given the profit margin on low priced coins it is not worth the risk. If questioned I do offer lesser packaging but at the buyers risk.

Multiple mint marked $1 coins, non standard packed $1 coins (eg Vietnam $1), carded coins (eg $1 unc roos), mint sets or multiple coins in 2x2’s, anything up to $5.00 is acceptable. These must be placed between cardboard and then placed in a padded bag to prevent damage. The item is then a small parcel providing it weighs under 250g. Postage is $3.20 plus the bag up to $1.20. The 2x2’s or other packaging also needs consideration.

Any package weighing between 250g and 500g costs up to $7.00 to send. This would include multiple coins or any modern day proof coin. Padded bags can be used for flat packed coins but modern proofs have fancy cases and boxes that must be protected so you are then looking at boxes. Small boxes cost up to $2.00. Add postage of $4.20 and some sort of filling for the box to stop the coin rattling around (eg bubble wrap, foam or egg shell packing) and you are well over the $6.00 mark. The only other comment I will make is that the mint could do all collectors a favour by offering one standard size packaging for single proof coins or coin sets. Ideally this would be of a size that would fit in a “VCR” box sold at the post office. These boxes offer maximum protection at the cheapest price.

Packages over the 500g mark are a different proposition as postage now is based on distance travelled. Unless the postcode of the buyer is known it is reasonable for most ebay sellers to quote the price reflective of the greatest distance the parcel must travel. Purchasers then need to negotiate with the seller for cheaper postage. Some sellers are obliging, others are not. Keep in mind that providing the package is not registered and less than 3kg, prepaid post bags can be used. Cost should not exceed $9.50 which will cover the prepaid bag ($7.35) a box to protect the article ($2.00 or so depending on the size of the article) and filling for the box. If you want the parcel insured then the prepaid bag idea is not an option and normal parcel costs apply.

Many sellers will charge for registration of post articles as standard. This is so the buyer can not accuse the seller of not posting the article (this problem occurs often enough). Most reputable sellers will offer registration and insurance as an option rather than mandatory. It is the buyers risk (except for inadequate packaging) once an article leaves the hands of the seller. A few dollars can be saved, particularly on low cost items, by not registering an article. However, registering an article, particularly a high value item, limits the risk. I have posted well over 500 items in the last year, about 100 were registered. None of the registered items went missing. Out of the other 400 items, one was lost in the mail and the other buyer was having a go of me. I have had only a few damaged articles, nearly all caused by buyers wanting the item packaged a “cheaper” way or by unreasonable treatment from Australia Post. This means Australia post has a pretty good success rate. If it was me I would register all items over $50.00, but this is my choice.

The last comment I will make is that the buyer is paying for the article and postage. This gives the right for the buyer to specify the method of postage. If the buyer wants the article sent by another company than Australia Post then that is their choice. Sellers should accommodate this. The buyer can also request how they want the item packaged. This could save some dollars but the buyer then takes all risk if the article gets damaged. If a buyer questions postage the seller should then justify the cost.

I hope this article helps to justify the postage costs on items. Some sellers will offer cheaper postage but as a buyer you should expect that a seller will charge an amount to cover the true cost to post a item without n over inflated profit.. I would consider these costs at the top of the reasonable mark. As usual I am happy to receive your feedback on this and am will to publish your thoughts.

The RAM has announced its' gold series of coins for the next 3 years. The first in the series depicts the Cassowary. The Cassowary is one of Australia's flightless birds and is found in North Queensland's rainforest. This bird is normally docile but when provoked becomes very fierce. The coins come in two denominations - $150 and $200. These proof coins come in a stylish timber case that highlights the beauty of these coins. These coins have a mintage of 2500 each and value at $650 for the $200 coin and $450 for the $150 coin.

Although I very much like the look of these coins I find it difficult to part with the cash the mint is after for these coins. Previous issues of gold coins have struggled to maintain their value which makes me very weary of this product. The other down side is that previous RAM issues depicting birds, namely the $10  silver bird series of the early 1990's,  have also struggled, but in saying this the mintages were probably too high. The low mintage will help in the secondary market but I am skeptical. My advise would be to only buy these coins if you like them and intend to collect the full set rather than investment potential.