A rare misshapen $1 coin could earn a lucky owner thousands of dollars.
In 2005, nearly six million $1 coins designed by artist Stuart Devlin were minted, with his iconic design of five hopping kangaroos on the reverse.
But a handful of the millions of “Mob of Roos” coins made were deformed due to an error in the minting process.
The die used to impress the coins was off-center, causing some kangaroos to appear as if their ears had been chopped off, while others had a crescent-shaped empty space.
The die used to impress the coins was off-center, causing some kangaroos to appear as if their ears had been chopped off, while others had a crescent-shaped empty space (photo)
It is not known how many of the deformed coins entered circulation, but they have since become collectibles, fetching up to $2,000.
Error coin experts Mark Nemtsas and Kathryn Harris, who own and run The Purple Penny coin shop in Adelaide, said it was uncertain why the error occurred.
‘This is not a common mistake by any means, but if you have a dollar coin that is struck off-center, similar to the one we are discussing here, then there is a very good chance that it dates from 2005, as there is a number of these have been found,’ she explained.
‘Why so much? That’s not certain, but perhaps one or two die pairs were set incorrectly for the production run.’
One of the coins is currently listed on Ebay for $1,850.