Pirate Guide

You can still buy a copy of the book - visit https://australiacoins.org/PrintedBook

It started out innocently enough - just coffee with a friend. We were sorting through her mum's coins, looking for anything interesting. After a while, she asked me why I haven't started a treasure hunt for the people who follow my Facebook page, Australia Coins.

I thought "great idea! That sounds easy..." Famous last words, I know.

My wife designed some treasure maps to help people find coins around their house, car and other areas - something to keep the kids entertained, but also fun for coin collectors.

The first hurdle I struck was how to train these budding coin collectors in what to look for.

The Royal Australian Mint has a great website, but it doesn't give any details about retail releases like the $2 coins from Woolworths, or the Australia Post alphabet coins (both of which are now common to find in circulation). It also doesn't have any details about which errors to look for - and I wanted these collectors to know how to spot errors and other scarce coins if they found them.

So I took it upon myself to create a guide of all the different coins you can find in circulation, which ones are scarcer and which coins are very valuable.

And that led to this guide. Since it was a treasure hunt, we started referring to it as the Pirate Guide, and the name stuck.

The digital version of the Pirate Guide was a great success with coin collectors who follow my Facebook and YouTube pages, and there has been even more interest for the 2021 edition. You can view it on your phone while you're at the shops, or while checking your change.

Then a surprising thing happened - after people bought the book online, they asked if there was also a physical version available (for themselves and/or to give to friends and family as a gift).

So, that is what this campaign is about - publishing physical copies of the guide that you can either keep for yourself, or pass to family members who are coin collectors.

The book has 96 pages and is broken into the following sections, one for each current denomination:  

• Coin collecting basics, including storing your coins,
• Two Dollars
• One Dollar
• Fifty Cents
• Twenty Cents
• Ten Cents
• Five Cents

Each section includes:

• Mintage information on each coin (where the mintage has been made available by the Royal Australian Mint),
• 'Scoreboards' for the special design coins, showing which coins are the rarest for each denomination,
• High quality photos of all coins currently in circulation (including special design coins from the Royal Australian Mint and special release coins from Woolworths and Australia Post), plus
• Known errors and varieties for specific coins, and how to spot the errors and varieties.

You can still buy a copy of the book - visit https://australiacoins.org/PrintedBook

This book allows you to:

• Track the coins in your collection,
• Identify which coins you might want to add to your collection,
• Confirm which are the lowest mintage versions of each coin,
• Verify rare and valuable error coins (that could be easily missed if you don't know what to look for), and
• Get important tips for storing your coins long-term to prevent damage to your coins.

2021 has been a huge year for Australian coins, with over 40 different coin designs released into circulation. So it can be a challenge to keep up with them all.

I use this guide constantly to check coins as I find them, and I hope that you keep it close and come back to it frequently to verify the coins that you find.

More importantly, I hope that it helps you identify a rare or valuable coin that you might have otherwise spent.

You can still buy a copy of the book - visit https://australiacoins.org/PrintedBook

Here is a breakdown of the rewards available:

1 x Pirate Guide to Collecting Australian Coins printed book: $50 plus shipping

You will receive a copy of the printed Pirate Guide book, which is 96 pages, printed on satin paper with a gloss cover.
The book will be posted with Australia Post.

If you are sending this copy as a gift, please add the postal address you would like it sent to and any message you would like to include on the 'GIFT NOTE FIELD'.

Front cover prototype and subject to change.

1 x Pirate Guide to Collecting Australian Coins printed book and 1 x Pirate Guide digital book: $80 plus shipping

You will receive a copy of the printed Pirate Guide book, which is 96 pages, printed on satin paper with a gloss cover.
The book will be posted with Australia Post.

You will also receive the digital copy of the Pirate Guide, which is broken into PDF files for each chapter for easy access. You'll receive updates to these digital files as new coins, mintages and errors become available over the next 12 months until the end of 2022.

Please note: If you are sending the physical copy as a gift, please add the postal address you would like it sent to and any message you would like to include on the 'GIFT NOTE FIELD'.

You can still buy a copy of the book - visit https://australiacoins.org/PrintedBook

2 x Pirate Guide to Collecting Australian Coins printed books: $95 plus shipping

You will receive 2 copies of the printed Pirate Guide book, which is 96 pages, printed on satin paper with a gloss cover.
The book will be posted with Australia Post (both books to the same address).

Please note: If you are sending this as a gift, please add the postal address you would like it sent to and any message you would like to include on the 'GIFT NOTE FIELD'.

2 x printed Pirate Guide, 1 x digital Pirate guide & 50 x Coin Capsules: $150 plus shipping

You will receive the following:

• 2 x Pirate Guide to Collecting Australian Coins printed book
• 1 x Pirate Guide digital book with updates until the end of 2022
• 50x Acrylic Coin Capsules

You will receive 2 copies of the printed Pirate Guide book, which is 96 pages, printed on satin paper with a gloss cover.
The book will be posted with Australia Post (both books to the same address).

You will also receive the digital copy of the Pirate Guide, which is broken into PDF files for each chapter for easy access. You'll receive updates to these digital files as new coins, mintages and errors become available over the next 12 months until the end of 2022.

This level also includes 50 hard plastic coin capsules for storing your coins. The capsules will come in a variety of sizes for different coins.

Please note: If you are sending the physical book and coin capsules as a gift, please add the postal address you would like it sent to and any message you would like to include on the 'GIFT NOTE FIELD'.

Coin Collecting Kit: $280 plus shipping

You will receive the following:

• 'Clamshell Folder' with 3-ring binder for storing your coin sleeves.
• 26 coin sleeves - each coin sleeve holds 20 coins and is made from Mylar
• 26 interleave pages - these have the coin names printed on them and line up with the sleeves, so that you can see which coins fit where. These 26 interleaves include all coins listed in the Pirate Guide, plus some spare slots where you can add other coins (such as errors).
• A pack of 50 SAFLIPs to keep your coins safe (these fit into the sleeves).
• A pair of white gloves to help handle coins.

The clamshell folder has a lid that fully encloses the sleeves to help keep your coins safe.

You coin goes into the SAFLIP, which slides into the sleeve in the folder. The interleaves sit between the sleeves in your folder to help you identify them.

The kit will be posted with Australia Post (all to one address).

Please note: If you are sending this reward as a gift, please add the postal address you would like it sent to and any message you would like to include on the 'GIFT NOTE FIELD'.

Coin Collecting Kit plus 1 x printed Pirate Guide and 1 x digital Pirate Guide: $350

You will receive the following:

• A copy of the printed Pirate Guide book, which is 96 pages, printed on satin paper with a gloss cover.
• 'Clamshell Folder' with 3-ring binder for storing your coin sleeves.
• 26 coin sleeves - each coin sleeve holds 20 coins and is made from Mylar
• 26 interleave pages - these have the coin names printed on them and line up with the sleeves, so that you can see which coins fit where. These 26 interleaves include all coins listed in the Pirate Guide, plus some spare slots where you can add other coins (such as errors).
• A pack of 50 SAFLIPs to keep your coins safe (these fit into the sleeves).
• A pair of white gloves to help handle coins.
  
  The clamshell folder has a lid that fully encloses the sleeves to help keep your coins safe.
  
  You coin goes into the SAFLIP, which slides into the sleeve in the folder. The interleaves sit between the sleeves in your folder to help you identify them.
  
  The kit and book will be posted with Australia Post (all to one address).
  
  You will also receive the digital copy of the Pirate Guide, which is broken into PDF files for each chapter for easy access. You'll receive updates to these digital files as new coins, mintages and errors become available over the next 12 months until the end of 2022.
  
  Please note: If you are sending this reward as a gift, please add the postal address you would like it sent to and any message you would like to include on the 'GIFT NOTE FIELD'.

Coin Kit in use

Postage

All physical rewards selected will be posted with Australia Post. They will be boxed carefully and posted to the address you provide.

You are welcome to gift your reward to someone, but all items in the reward will be sent to the same address. You can also leave a message to the gift recipient.

You can still buy a copy of the book - visit https://australiacoins.org/PrintedBook

• The goal of this campaign is to make this guide available in printed form for everyone who would like a physical book.
• Printing small numbers are much more expensive per book than a larger order, so this campaign is designed to allow more copies to be printed at a more reasonable price.
• As the coin images are vital, this book will be printed full colour on high quality satin paper, with a gloss cover.
• The Pirate Guide will be printed by a Brisbane-based printer. 
• Rewards will be posted to you by Australia Post.