#no way would a coin that old be so shiny if it wasn't special in some way

[allhailthemightyquattro]

In the past few months I have found in my work register, not one but three coins that were not intended for circulation and were only ever made available via purchasing from the Royal Australian Mint. While this is cool for me because I love collecting coins but don't have enough disposable income to justify buying the collector-only ones, it is also bittersweet. These coins aren't even listed in my coin collecting book because it is that unlikely to find them in your change. These are not coins that, after a certain amount of time, the sets that didn't sell were separated and released into circulation, nor are they ones that are meant for kids who sometimes spend the coin not knowing it is special (I've still got my fingers crossed for finding a tooth fairy coin). These are coins that were made for collectors and bought by collectors, which means there are two most likely reasons I have suddenly found three in such a short period of time:

Someone has had their house broken into and their collection stolen, and whoever did it doesn't realise the coins can be sold on ebay for a few times their face value;

People have fallen on such hard times that they are needing to spend their collection and don't have the time or ability to sell them online

Neither of these reasons are good, so, yeah, bittersweet. I'm happy to have some new coins to add to my collection, but it's also a bit sad to think of why these collector-only coins are turning up.