TEENAGER FIRST AGAIN AT ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT IN 2014

Many collectors wish to own the first minted coin of a new year, and for one Sydney teenager luck has struck twice.

Harley Russo spent five days camped outside the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra so he could be the first to strike a coin in 2014.

Harley and his family also queued for four days at the end of 2012 so he could secure the first coin for 2013.

The annual release of uncirculated coins attracts collectors both young and old, with hundreds lining up to be among the first to mint a coin in the new year.

One keen collector even offered Harley $2,000 for his coin, which he turned down.

"It's got good value... and it will go up pretty quickly," Harley said.

The 14-year-old began collecting more than three years ago after being given coins that belonged to his grandfather.

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

"[I'm interested in] the designs, all the work that goes into them, and the history," he said.

The 2014 coin commemorates Matthew Flinders' voyages charting the Australian continent.

Mr MacDiarmid says the design is a fitting way to mark 200 years since Flinders' journal, A Voyage to Terra Australis, was produced.

"The design of the coin is actually a ship which obviously was a ship that Matthew Flinders sailed in as he was exploring Australia and circumnavigating the continent with this side of Australia on one side," he said.

Canberra's time zone also makes the first coin globally significant.

"We're obviously not the first country or nation that sees the sun rise but we are the only mint that's in the Pacific island region that actually produces a coin," Mr MacDiarmid said.

"So we'd be the first in the world."

To read the complete article, see: Sydney teenager mints first 2014 coin after camping out for five nights (www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-01/sydney-teenager-camps-out-for-five-nights-to-mint-first-2014-co/5181214)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: TEENAGER CAMPS OUT TO BE FIRST AT ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT SALE (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n01a27.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web