Austraila's Round 50 cent coins

[Fulvio]

These were minted as early as 1964

They would have started in Melbourne and Perth as soon as they finished with the 1964 predecimals. Devlin won the design competition in 1964.. anybody know what date? The changeover was a long time in planning, going back to 1958, and they needed all the time and resources they could muster to be ready by the end of 1965. The logistics operation to distribute the coins in the first 6 weeks of 1966 was a nightmare, and its a credit to all concerned it went off without a hitch.

One thing I would wonder about is just how early London were recruited. 1965, 1964? Possibly earlier? Would they have gotten them working on the project before our mint was even under construction in 1962? A year to plan and produce their share doesn't seem long enough somehow, given their commitments.

I don't know when this 1964 clip from the ABC was produced, but it shows production coins, some fairly badly dinged: http://www.abc.net.au/archives/80days/st...411470.htm

Production capacity at Canberra in 1965 was 6 million a week. 300 million a year more or less, but they likely didn't have the full year available. With Melbourne producing 238 million 1¢ and Perth 217 million 2¢ (plus a little bit of crossover presumably to balance supply) and Canberra 85 million CuNi plus 290 million copper, would it be safe to assume the silver coins all came from London?

Given the ABC filmed all six coins in 1964, the silver and CuNi coins they showed must have come from London, and the copper from our own mints.

Sorry this is all a bit disconnected.. I'm running late for the MICOM meeting today.