Need help from Australian collectors

desslok

I purchased an Israeli Half-Lira coin struck on a brass planchet with a diameter of 20 millimeters and weight of 3.4 grams (normal Israeli Half-Lira coins of the 1970s were minted on 24.5mm, 6.8 grams, copper-nickel planchets). The date is only partly legible, but I believe it to be 1975. I'm trying to figure out which country and denomination does this planchet belong to.

According to my Bank of Israel catalog, Half-Lira coins of this year were minted in Australia. The planchet specification does not match any real Australian coins, but I figure that if Australia minted coins for Israel, they could just as well have minted coins for other countries. So my question is: does anyone have any idea what this planchet might have been intended for, or where could I try to find out?

mnemtsas2

I have a 1974/75 Royal Australian Mint annual report here in front of me. It shows a mintage of 5 million for the 1/2 lira coin. The 1975/76 report shows no mintage for any Israeli coins.

It looks like the RAM produced coins for a number of countries in 1974/75 which were Australia (duh), New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji, Western Samoa and Israel. None of the coins were minted on a brass planchet. They were all copper-nickel or bronze. The only reference to something manufactured in brass I can find in the report is "Medals, mint 440 pieces". It's the same with the reports for the year before and the year after.

PurplePenny

So where is the mintmark on these coins as I see (c) and (j) types? Does this mean the 1975 was minted at 2 different mints?

desslok

The coin was minted in both Jerusalem and in Australia, but there is no mintmark identifying the origin.

Several other possibilities:
- It could be a 1973 issue, minted at both Jerusalem and Bern (Switzerland) - perhaps some Swiss coin or foreign coin made at the Swiss mint would match. The tiny remnants of the last letter of the Hebrew date don't quite match this speculation, but they are too insignificant to be certain.
- It could have been minted in Jerusalem on some unknown odd planchet. I don't think Israel ever produced coins for any other countries except itself, but I'm not certain.