Hi @tyme and @Mustang67 and Coin Fans,

Yeah, so I’ve done a deep dive since receiving the coin as change and my OCD led me far and yonder - this is what I love about coins…how much I’m learning about weird stuff like metals and oxidisation, it’s cool stuff. So I looked up the coins from that year and guess what, it’s made from Aluminium and Bronze. In coin world they call it AlBr. So yeah, the uncirculated coin from this year is AlBr and I can’t figure how this patina came about…but then I’m no scientist.

So I read more and turns out Bronze can form brilliant colour schemes of copper, blue, and green which struck me as ironic for the landscape of Australia…but then bronze is gold so it’s even more meaningful to me. And then we have the International Year Of Older Persons mixed in which I feel makes the coin a beautiful tribute to us over 50 here. Well I just feel like I’ve won lotto with this coin!

 And Mustang, I know you enjoy photography so you’ll appreciate the fun I had trying to capture its inherent beauty. A long time ago I worked with on a jewellery mag and capturing reflective small things like diamonds was a challenge - coins are so much more rewarding! I’m no artist photographer but I selected work from photographers and grew and appreciation for those who did it creatively and brought something new to the world of jewels. I count coins as jewels, they can be indescribably beautiful and just as valuable: 

so on to the noodling…$50 is more than enough $1 coins Mustang. $40 will get you 2x $20 dollar rolls of $1 coins and that’s heaven from where I sit. If you get a fine magnifying glass you could add a roll of 5c or 10c and be lost in coin world for days. Haha, yep, that’s where I’m at and loving how time slips through my hours while I’m in heaven sifting through potential superstar coins. I’ve yet to find any…but the 1999 is my greatest hit. For now : )

it’s been so lovely to read your reports back on this treasure and I hope to see some cool discoveries of your own exploration of the world of random cons in your change : )