Australian 1966 mint set fastbuck wallet

[iacabu]

A potential opportunity has come up for me to purchase a set. I'm not 100% confident in verifying its authenticity, but while there isn't a great deal online for them there is no mention of fake sets (although they are individually named making it more difficult to fake). 

Does anybody know much about them? Values that I can find for previous sales or mentions online vary between $700 and AU$7000.

This would purely be to sell on but don't want to struggle to shift it. I don't know if there's a great market for them here in the UK. 

 

[jultorsk]

Lovely piece of Aussie numismatic history there. $7000 is way (way) too optimistic though. Following with interest. 🇦🇺

[iacabu]

1 hour ago, jultorsk said:

Lovely piece of Aussie numismatic history there. $7000 is way (way) too optimistic though. Following with interest. 🇦🇺

I took that price with a pinch of salt, it's from eBay

Sold prices in past auctions (in Aus) are $2266 and $1325.

I'm probably going to give it a miss, too risky to tie funds up in it. Perhaps the Aus market would be better for it

[dicker]

So this is a very low mintage set.  I saw one of these years ago and it there were very few presented.  

The article also suggested that a few differently packaged sets were given to the project team at the RBA / VIP’s.

Personally, I wouldn’t pay that much for a set like this but it is still interesting.

[iacabu]

1 hour ago, dicker said:

So this is a very low mintage set.  I saw one of these years ago and it there were very few presented.  

The article also suggested that a few differently packaged sets were given to the project team at the RBA / VIP’s.

Personally, I wouldn’t pay that much for a set like this but it is still interesting.

I'd be very reluctant to part with my money for a set without a buyer lined up to be honest. I've sent a message to a dealer in Australia, but I'm more inclined to give it a miss. 

 

Here's a bit of info on the origin and mintage:

" "Operation Fastbuck” was the name used for the safe delivery of decimal currency to the banks during the changeover from £/s/d to dollars and cents on February 14th 1966. 70 drivers were involved in the transfer of the new money in preparation for C-Day, the day Australia would start using the new currency.

These 70 drivers were presented with this special wallet embossed with their name as a thank you for their participation in the event. This is the rarest of the 1966 mint sets and is highly sought after by collectors. They very rarely come up for sale."

 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Iacabu

[dicker]

Agreed - someone who would have a good view would be Andrew Crellin at Sterling and Currency in Freemantle.