Club collects coinage history

HAVE a look in your wallet or purse because you just might find something members of the Bendigo Coin and Collectables Club are looking for.

The club hosts fortnightly meetups at the Quarry Hill Community Hall to trade and auction off a range memorabilia bought from the public.

Treasurer Paul Brownlie said participants can also show off their extensive collections or prized possessions at the meetings.

“Members are free to bring along their items to show and tell, or to set up a table and sell to other members,” he said.

Mr Brownlie said some at the club were able to get their hands on some high value coins at a recent club meeting.

“We managed to get some Australian gold sovereigns back from the late 1800s, early 1900s and we had quite a number of them that we managed to sell to club members in an auction,” he said.

“They were over the moon and the coins varied in price from $600 to $1000 each.”

He said collecting can spark a sense of wonder in members, particularly with older items passed down through history.

“Holding a 1901 penny, you just get this sense of ‘where’s it been?’, you wonder ‘whose hands has it been through?’.”

Mr Brownlie said some members have been active for about 50 years, and the club are actively trying to recruit new collectors and younger participants to uphold the tradition.

“For the last two years we’ve had an annual fair out at the Exhibition Centre at the Bendigo Showgrounds and we make that free for under 16s and hopefully their parents or grandparents bring them along and try to get some interest because we want the investment hobby to continue on,” he said.

For more information, visit bendigocoinclub.com.