TEENAGER CAMPS OUT TO BE FIRST AT ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT SALE

A 13-year-old Sydney teenager has collected the first coin of 2013 after spending four days camped outside the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra.

Harley Russo was one of hundreds of people queued outside the mint this morning to be among the first to mint a coin in the new year.

The teenager also won a lottery at the mint to strike the last coin of 2012.

Harley, who turned down an $800 offer from a rival collector to sell the coin, says it was fun camping out over the weekend with his three brothers.

The first four people through the door were under the age of 15, with collectors keen to get their hands on coins marking the bicentenary of Australia's first coins - the holey dollar and dump.

The first holey dollars and dumps were struck in 1813 from Spanish eight reale coins to provide a stable currency in New South Wales.

"I think it's all about being the first," Mr MacDiarmid said.

"The theme this year is actually the bicentenary of the holey dollar and dump. I suspect that's been the attraction as well as, of course, being here to be one of the first who can mint a coin in the world."

Mr MacDiarmid says coin collecting is thriving in Australia.

"It's an amazing hobby. It seems to be growing," he said.

To read the complete article, see: Coin camp-out earns teen collector a pretty penny (www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-01/four-day-wait-to-mint-first
-coin-pays-off/4449332)

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