People have travelled to Canberra from across Australia this weekend for a cash swapping exhibition with the royal mint. It's the first event of its kind since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and attendance numbers showed coin collecting continues to be a popular hobby.
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00:00 If anything, the decline in the use of cash to pay for goods has only heightened the enthusiasm
00:07 of many coin collectors.
00:08 So today I bought a $110 pack, I bought an $80 pack and I bought another $100 pack.
00:18 For Kelly, coin collecting started with her great-grandparents and has become a lifelong
00:24 hobby.
00:25 We got Australian pennies when they came here from Germany and we got from the 1800s our
00:31 very first penny.
00:32 For coin collectors, also known as numismatists, age is no barrier.
00:37 My daughter, she's just 11 years old but she knows all the names and the history as well.
00:42 I like the one with the king's face on it or maybe the red poppy.
00:49 This weekend was the Royal Australian Mint's coin swap, an opportunity to get coins straight
00:54 from the source in mint condition.
00:56 And with this being the first time the event has been run since before the COVID-19 pandemic,
01:02 there was plenty of pent-up demand.
01:04 There's $1000 worth of coins here that includes coins that enthusiasts have travelled across
01:09 the country to collect.
01:10 For many, it's a historical value that's the most prized.
01:13 It certainly is an opportunity for people to grab a memento of an event that they might
01:18 really even be able to get to themselves.
01:20 So it's that connecting Australia through the stories that we can tell on coins.
01:24 Coins featuring King Charles, the 75th anniversary of World War II and firefighters are particularly
01:30 prized.
01:31 That is a very special coin, not only for me but for entire Australia.
01:37 This is a coin that was dedicated for firefighters, especially after the devastating bushfires
01:42 we had.
01:44 For numismatists, the pursuit of the rarest coins makes perfect sense.
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