Hundreds of coin enthusiasts gathered at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra this morning, but only one could win the prize of minting the new year's first coin.
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00:00In years gone by, coin collectors would camp out at the Royal Australian Mint for days,
00:06trying to get their hands on the highly sought-after first minted coin for the new year anywhere
00:11in the world.
00:12But this year was a much more orderly occasion, with a ballot opening around 7am and a winner,
00:17along with 99 runners-up, being picked an hour later to strike 2025's freshly minted
00:22coins here in Canberra.
00:25This year's winner was 25-year-old Daniela Vito from Canberra.
00:28A lifelong coin collector, this was only her second time entering the ballot.
00:32I think it's really cool to see the designs on them, they're all really special and unique,
00:37and it's something tangible as well that you can always look back on, it's a piece of history.
00:42In what's become an annual tradition, the collectible coins of the new year have a theme.
00:47This year it's a celebration of 60 years of the Royal Australian Mint.
00:51The architecture of the building, the robots and the workers, or the minties as they're
00:55affectionately known, and of course the coin collectors themselves.
00:59So it's looking at everyone who's contributed, right from the architect Richard Err who really
01:04wanted to create a functional and beautiful building, not just a factory, through to the
01:09robots and the machinery that we have, the card is actually a tribute to those.
01:12With the community of coin collectors or numismatists only growing, this event and others like it
01:18are only expected to become larger in coming years.
01:21For more information about the Royal Australian Mint, visit www.royalaustralianmint.com