The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 39, September 24, 2006, Article 23

NEW ZEALAND COIN CHANGEOVER CRAZE REACHES NEW HEIGHTS

Martin Purdy has kept us informed about the craze generated in
New Zealand as a result of that country's changeover to a new
coinage - see below for links to previous E-Sylum articles on
the topic.  This week the New Zealand Herald published a story
about how wild the craze has become.

"A Rotorua coin collector says people paying thousands of dollars
for coins about to be phased out of circulation are being duped.

With just five weeks before New Zealand's old 5c, 10c, 20c and
50c coins become obsolete, there has been an upsurge in their
sale as collector's items.

But Rotorua collector Don Ion warns that most of them are worth
no more than their face value and people should do their homework
before they buy. Other coin experts share his concerns.

Mr Ion, who has been trading coins for more than 50 years, said
there had been a coin buying frenzy since a 2004 5c piece sold
on a website for $350 after the Reserve Bank introduced new coins.

Since then coins worth only their face value were being listed at
exorbitant prices, some as high as $5000, he said."

"Wellington Royal Numismatic Society vice president Alistair Robb
said people who knew little about the value of coins for which they
were bidding would be best to first check catalogues, available
from coin collector stores.

"These books only cost about $14 but they could save these people
a lot more," he said."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

To read previous E-Sylum articles on the topic, see:
NEW ZEALAND COINAGE CHANGES
esylum_v08n15a13.html
NEW ZEALAND NEW COINS CLARIFICATION
esylum_v09n22a21.html
NEW ZEALAND SWITCHES COINAGE
esylum_v09n29a15.html
NEW ZEALAND COINAGE SWITCHOVER CREATES DEMAND FOR 2004 5C COINS
esylum_v09n33a18.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum