Hey Friend

I've had a couple of people contact me in the last few days about errors they've found on the coloured Olympic coins.

There are 2 particular paint errors on a coloured coin that could POTENTIALLY make the coin quite valuable. I'll explain why I said "potentially" shortly.

But first here are the main colour errors:

1. Bullseye error:
This is where the paint is applied to the Heads side instead of the Tails side. Here's an example of the error on the 2019 Police Remembrance coin:

2. Wrong paint / Mix & Match error:
For this error, the paint that gets applied is in fact designed for a completely different coin.
Here's a very crude mock-up just to demonstrate the error:

Rotated Colour:
Please note that it is not an error if the colour is rotated. The colours that get printed on coins are generally designed so that colour can be rotated at any angle.

There are sections with more information about each of these in the $2 chapter of the Pirate Guide.

The problem:
In the last year or so, there are some people who have found a way to create fake bullseye coins, and one person submitted a whole group of these fake bullseyes for grading with PCGS. Unfortunately the coins were initially graded and then reversed once it was revealed that the errors were faked. At this stage, PCGS will not grade colour errors on coins, and this has had detrimental effects for collectors.

Firstly, error-coin collectors can't get the coins verified, so they are reluctant to chase them. Secondly, the collector community is a lot more wary of colour errors so the interest has reduced.

What now?
If you are lucky enough to find such an error that you believe is genuine, I would suggest storing the coin safely and carefully for now until there is a way (hopefully in the near future) to have such coins verified and/or graded.

Other news...
Just a quick reminder that you can order the Digital Edition of the Pirate Guide at a 25% discount until the end of Wednesday (tomorrow) using the code "Thank_You_Digital11":
https://www.australiacoins.com.au/products/pirate-guide-to-collecting-australian-coins-digital-ebook

Cheers

Damian

PS, The third Olympic coin is now available at face value through Woolworths cash registers. Still make sure to check your coins for any errors, such as rotation errors, missing details and of course paint errors!