Rare 10 cent coins could be worth up to $50 to Aussie collectors

The humble 10 cent coin is often overlooked by coin collectors but some unique factors can make them valuable.

Some ordinary 10 cent coins are worth much more than their face value, according to an Aussie coin enthusiast.

While 10 cent coins are often overlooked by coin collectors, there are some unique factors that can make them valuable.

Victorian coin collector Michael McCauley told Aussies to keep an eye out for 10 cent coins that were minted in 2011.

There was only a relatively small number of them minted, making them a sought-after find.

“Don’t sleep on the 10 cent coins. One of the best ones to look for are the 2011 standard issue 10 cent coins,” McCauley said on TikTok.

“$3.80 to $50 is a recent selling price range on that coin. Only 1.7 million of those coins were produced so that’s the lowest mintage 10 cent coin that was produced for circulation.”

Other low-mintage 10 cent coins include 1985 coins, which had a mintage of 2 million.

Aside from that, Downies Collectables said it can be worth looking out for collector coins from 1976, 1987, 1995, 1996 and 2003.

The Royal Mint did not issue standard 10 cent coins during these years so any coins you find with those dates would be from mint sets.

Australia introduced 10 cent coins with decimal currency on February 14, 1966.

The original reverse design of the lyrebird has not been changed since then.

Aussie 10 cent coins can be overlooked by collectors because there is only one circulating commemorative coin and no coloured coins.

They are also usually issued in large quantities.

10 cent error coins also ‘rare’

The Mint’s equipment and quality control mean error 10 cent coins are rare, as with all denominations, so if you find one it could be valuable.

A 1994 10-cent piece, which was mistakenly struck on a 5-cent blank, was recently auctioned off by Noble Numismatics for $850.

Jim Noble said it was “very unusual” for error coins to leave the Mint but it can happen.

“To find a coin like the 10-cent piece struck on a 5-cent blank, that is quite rare. But, they can be found in circulation,” he told Yahoo Finance.

“There was a case of two of these error coins turning up more than one at a time.

“You should look at your change … you might have something.”