EXCLUSIVE

Got a spare $600,000? If so, you could pick up one of Australia's rarest coins.

Coin dealer Belinda Downie said the «Madrid Holey Dollar», which has just been put on the market, was «as rare as it gets».



«It's the holy of holies and one of Australia's most desirable coins. Macquarie Bank adopted the Holey Dollar as its logo,» she said.

The coin was one of the rare pieces displayed at the recent Australasian Numismatics Dealers Association show in Perth.

Experts said the «Holey Dollar», so named because of the hole punched through the middle of it, was Australia's first coin.It came into being in the early 1800s when New South Wales governor Lachlan Macquarie got ahold of 40,000 Spanish Silver Dollars to use as local currency. He ordered an emancipated convict to punch a hole in the middle and effectively created two coins for the price of one – the larger «Holey Dollar» valued at five shillings, the smaller just 15 pence. 300 still exist in collections to this day, but there are only six «Madrid Holey Dollars» which were originally struck at the Spanish Mint in Madrid. Five of those are held in museums, but only one is in private hands – and it's now up for sale. Rare coin dealers Coinworks listed the asking price at $600,000, but have valued the coin at up to $650,000.

«We're most confident the price is right to generate interest from collectors and investors,» Ms Downie said.

«In drawing on historical research, we re-visited the famous bicentennial auction held by Spink in March 1988, when 10 Holey Dollars were offered for sale. We looked at the relative price movements of four of the top coins out of that auction. The price relationship of the four coins has been remarkably maintained, reflecting an impressive strength in the market at the top end.»

For those who are interested, the piece is rated as of «good extremely fine» quality and last changed hands in 1988 for $58,000. A similar coin, minted in Mexico, sold last year for $455,000. Another, from the Lima Mint, sold in 2013 for $495,000. In 2012, a thief staged a daring heist at the State Library of New South Wales and made off with a Holey Dollar worth $410,000.

www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/holey-dollar-rare-australian-coin-tipped-to-sell-for-600000-20150415-1mluee.html