Well... it has taken quite some time for me to start to feel comforable with buying silver in Australia. I could easily just go to the coin shop or the Australian Mint... but somehow, I find those places more than a little bit intimidating, so for those, I will have to just wait a little bit longer before I find the bravery to step into those!... well, probably the Mint will be fine... but I get a little bit scared by the coin and precious metal shops! Yep... that is me in real life, so... I really have chosen a weird profession!

Anyway, I was browsing around on Gumtree (the Australian second hand site...)... looking around for silver pieces, and I had bookmarked a few things. But mostly just to get a rough idea of where prices for various bits and pieces stood. Finally, last week... I jumped and picked up three silver pieces from a seller in Canberra. Actually, I started the contact when I was travelling... when I'm away, I have a bit too much time in the travel waiting rooms, and I start browsing and spending my per-diem money that should be going to food!

So, this person was selling three silver Australian pieces... the first of whic was this Ten Doolar Silver Proof from the Birds of Australia collection. A nice older design in a lovely case, but at sterling silver purity.

Next up on the list was another 10 Dollar sterling silver piece that was a commemoration mint for Western Australia... actually, this was the piece that made me pull the trigger on the purchase. Western Australia is my original home state... and I couldn't resist the connection!

Finally, the prize pick of the lot! A Holey Dollar and Dump... in pure silver purity! Ahhhh... nice and satisfying! The Holey Dollar and Dump are an interesting historical lesson and relic... an attempt to solve the problem of the lack of physical currency in a land that was far removed from the English homeland and industrial centres of Europe.

In 1813, the Governor (Maquarie) of New South Wales imported Spanish Reales and employed a convict forger to cut the middle circle out (the dump) from the out ring (the dollar). This was done to increase the number of physical coins that could be circulated, and the outer ring was set to be worth 5 shillings and the dump was worth 15 pence! Interesting, creative, and uniquely Australian solution!

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