Question, modern Austrian coin, mintage, details, rarity..?
Joe_360
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I bought a 2024 Lunar Colorized 1oz silver dragon coin off eBay. I selected the one in the attached photo as it was different then all others listed - Just to the left of the dragon is a round circle with a dragon inside, I could not find another like it on the eBay/web. Another eBay listing had the same coin but not colorized and they listed the circle with the dragon inside as a lower mintage "Privy mark". So it looks like I have (potentially) a colorized dragon coin with a "dragon privy" mark?
How can I confirm this? The coin seller has no information on this. How can I get the details on 2024 Australian coins and there mintages? See attached photos. Thanks in advance for an replies. Joe
Picture of coin I bought
Picture of area of interest (Privy?)
Picture of all other dragon coins on e-Bay (No dragon)
Picture, non-color with "same privy mark
Comments
The normal 1 oz bullion 2024 dragon has a mintage of 300,000:
https://www.perthmint.com/shop/bullion/bullion-coins/australian-lunar-series-iii-2024-year-of-the-dragon-1oz-silver-bullion-coin/
The privy version has a mintage of 30,000:
https://www.perthmint.com/shop/bullion/bullion-coins/australian-lunar-series-iii-2024-year-of-the-dragon-1oz-silver-bullion-coin-dragon-privy-mark/
I also found a colorized version in a card with an issue limit of 5,000 and a maximum mintage of 200,000:
https://www.perthmint.com/shop/collector-coins/coins/australian-lunar-series-iii-2024-year-of-the-dragon-1oz-silver-coloured-coin-in-card/
I believe both the normal bullion and the privy are sold in colorized formats. Usually they are colorized at the Perth Mint but I don't see any reference to the privy version being colorized so my best guess is that it was done outside of the mint using one of the 30,000 examples.
Thank you! I contacted them, and they said that they have issued no such coin, so whom would have colorized this coin after the fact? The coin strike does not appear to be counterfeit. It looks like a Perth minted coin. So could this be an error coin?
How/why would someone have colorized this coin? Error from Perth or 3rd party? Value? Thanks again!
Picture of my coin in hand...
It is not an error coin.
It could have been colorized by one of the private companies that do this for all sorts of coins (Eagles, Maples, etc). Or it might have been done by someone at home that has the talent. Either way it is a third party separate from the Perth Mint.
As far as value, some would say it’s worth less since this is a post mint coloring. I think there are people that enjoy something like this and would pay a small premium (say $5-$10 on average) over the price of one that isn’t colorized.
@U1chicago ,
Thank you for your reply. Tell me, would you keep something like this? I have to admit, it looks great! The colorization looks brilliant! Half of me says no, the other half says "limited Addition" lol!
BTW, I was born and raised in Chicago (City) Southside right off of 1-55 between Kedzie and California on 38th Street.
I would keep it if I liked it.
I actually collected some Perth Mint Lunars at one point. I moved on from that collection but did keep some of my favorites. I had a few colorized examples too and enjoyed them. I think they add some excitement to the collection.
@U1chicago
Thanks again, considering to keep it such the Privy mark is the lower mintage.
Last question (I think) if I didn't know that a 3rd party did the colorization and sent it in to our host and/or another 3rd party grader, how would they handle the grading? What would be the designation for the label? Joe
Since it is a third party colorization, most TPGs would give it a details-altered surfaces grade. You might be able to get a straight grade from Anacs or ICG. There is also a small chance one of the major TPGs could confuse this with the mint applied colored version and straight grade it (but I would think chances are fairly low of that). Personally, I would not grade this coin and just enjoy it raw.
Australian...
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