Museum Victoria in Melbourne houses an extensive collection of Australian coins, tokens and banknotes, which are progressively being brought online. To date the entire token collection is available online, along with many other pieces. These can be accessed by going to Museum Victoria Collections & Research and then typing a keyword for the item of interest in the Search the Collections box.
The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney houses an important collection of Australian coins, tokens and banknotes.
The National Library of Australia in Canberra holds an extensive collection of books and other manuscripts and is also the link to libraries around the country.
The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is the nation’s repository for military artifacts and has online research facilities.
Noteprinting Australia in Melbourne has responsibility for the printing of the nation’s banknotes, but its collection of banknotes has been transferred to the Reserve Bank of Australia at 65 Martin Place, Sydney.
Reserve Bank of Australia Museum, a virtual museum of Australian banknotes, also has a currency museum at 65 Martin Place, Sydney.
The Westpac Museum at 6-8 Playfair Street, The Rocks, Sydney has a feature exhibition, currently The Convict’s Bank, The People’s Bank and Australia’s Bank.
The ANZ Banking Museum is housed on the lower ground floor of the ‘Gothic Bank’ at 380 Collins Street, Melbourne and tells the story of Australia’s banking heritage through displays of items such as banknotes and coins, moneyboxes, office machines, firearms, gold-mining equipment and uniforms.
The Nicholson Museum at the University of Sydney has an extensive collection of Greek, Hellenistic and Roman coins. Its current exhibition Faces of Power: Imperial Portraiture on Roman Coins includes 1309 coins of Roman emperors and their wives (until September 2007).
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery was established by The Royal Society of Tasmania, the oldest Royal Society outside England, and is fortunate to have one of the finest numismatic collections in Australia. The collection includes coins from c600 BC to the present, banknotes, promissory notes, commercial tokens, commemorative medals, decorations, campaign medals and badges. In total, the Museum holds more than 25,000 of these precious objects. Highlights include ancient Roman and Greek coins, gold and hammered coins of Great Britain, Victoria and George Crosses awarded to Tasmanians, Tasmanian commemorative and presentation medals, a fine collection of German medals by Karl Goetz, and early Tasmanian trading tokens.
The Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide has a significant numismatic collection, including the original dies of the Adelaide 1 pound and 5 pounds.
The National Sports Museum located at the MCG in Melbourne has an extensive collection of sporting memorabilia, including medals and badges.
Overseas museums
The Royal Mint, has lots of offers from its own coin club.
World of Money gives details of their interactive CD ROM
The Fitzwilliam Museum Department of Coins & Medals. An excellent site, well worth a visit. Their Early Medieval Corpus is now online – this is an attempt to record all single finds of coins minted between AD 410 – 1180 and discovered in the British Isles. Currently, 2,700 items are catalogued. Details of the Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles can also be found on this comprehensive site.
Hunterian Museum. The new permanent numismatic exhibitions are based on the renowned 18th-century cabinet of Doctor William Hunter, who bequeathed his collections to the University of Glasgow, and supplemented by later additions.
Ashmolean Museum. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is the host to Roman Provincial Coinage online, an invaluable resource for those interested in this area.
Monnaie de Paris, French National Coinage Museum in Paris. Site (various languages) gives a history of coinage plus details of exhibition displays plus images of the new.
Numismatic societies outside Australia and New Zealand
The Royal Numismatic Society, the RNS and the British Numismatic Society (BNS) are the leading academic numismatic societies in the UK. These websites offer full details of the Societies’ programmes, publications, prizes, and history.
The Collectables Trader, is a bimonthly Australian and New Zealand magazine that includes regular numismatic articles and other collectables. Available from newsagents in Australia and New Zealand or direct from the publishers; PO Box 324, Bondi Junction NSW 1355 (at reduced rates).
Coin News, is a leading and long-established high-quality numismatic publication, covering all areas of the hobby.
Krause Publications, a large range of books (many also large) and magazines on many aspects of numismatics plus many other areas of collecting.
Coin World Magazine, another US-published magazine but with interesting information (including the new quarter dollars) and links.
The Celtic Coin Index. Details of over 28,500 coins are held on the Celtic Coin Index, and this website has full details of how it can be referenced. The prototype online index is now available.
The Roman Provincial Coinage series online is to produce a standard typology of the provincial coinage of the Roman Empire from its beginning in 44 BC to its end in AD 296/7.
QXL ricardo, an online auction house with some numismatic content.
ebay, a well-known online auction house with a lot of numismatic content. Plus a lot of world numismatics and para numismatics (exonumia to those in the USA).
trademe, the premier site for New Zealand online trading.
auctionfire, an online auction site with a very extensive series of links to many different categories of collectables.
USA Coin Book, a site specialising in coins where members can buy, sell and auction coins, coin supplies and other coin-related items
Other websites of interest
Movable Cultural Heritage, is the Australian Government website for everything related to the protection of Australian cultural heritage.
Historic Shipwrecks Act, detailing the protection of historic shipwrecks off the Australian coast and the State and Territory contacts.
Protected Objects Act, the New Zealand Government website listing the categories of protected New Zealand objects.
ICOMON is an international subcommittee of ICOM covering money and banking museums.
The PNS does not recommend specific dealers or auction houses – but these sites are well worth a visit…
Australian Dealers
Noble Numismatics Pty Ltd in Sydney and Melbourne is a gold sponsor of the Numismatic Association of Australia and runs three major numismatic auctions each year.
Downies in Melbourne, Sydney and USA is a silver sponsor of the Numismatic Association of Australia and runs several major numismatic auctions each year.
Coinworks is a bronze sponsor of the Numismatic Association of Australia and specialises in the handling of high-quality, rare and historic pre-1964 Australian coins.
Drake Sterling Numismatics deals exclusively on the internet and stocks only those coins that have been graded and authenticated by an independent third-party service, either PCGS or NGC. The company is a bronze sponsor of the Numismatic Association of Australia.
The Purple Penny is an online dealer specializing in third-party graded coins (PCGS and NGC) and coin errors. The company is a bronze sponsor of the Numismatic Association of Australia.
Sterling & Currency in Fremantle is a bronze sponsor of the Numismatic Association of Australia, specialising in rare coins and banknotes.
I S Wright is a dealer and auctioneer in numismatic and military collectibles, with a wide range of coins, banknotes, tokens, medals and books in its shops in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Ballarat.
Spink, as one of the oldest and most famous dealers in the business, needs no introduction. Their website has been fully updated and now has a “virtual gallery” of coins for sale, all fully illustrated, as well as auction information and specialist advice for collectors.
Baldwin’s, a long-established company with a history going back to 1872, offers coins for collectors, including ancient, mediaeval, British and foreign coins, commemorative medals, tokens and numismatic books.
Timothy Millett, a dealer specializing in historic medallions and works of art.
Charles Riley, a dealer specializing in coins, medals and commemorative medallions.
Mike Vosper, a dealer specializing in Celtic, Roman, and English Hammered coins, and 17th-century tokens.
P & D Medallions, is a leading dealer in British and world history and art medals.
Chris Rudd, a dealer specializing in Celtic coins.
Galata Coins, Paul and Bente Withers have published several books on weights and tokens and have a huge range of books for sale.
Simmons Gallery, Howard and Frances Simmons run the well-known London Coin Fairs and deal in coins and tokens. Their gallery displays a large selection of modern art medals.
Christopher Eimer, a dealer specializing in Fine medals and Medallic Art. This website contains a large selection of medals as well as portrait reliefs, cameos and related objects.
Chris Perkins, offers British coins/world coins and collecting accessories. Pre-decimal specialist in mainly modern British coins (1760 – Date) but often other types of coins are available.
Mark Rasmussen is a dealer with a comprehensive list of British material.
Peter Edwards is a dealer selling a wide range of British coins. His website also features coin-related guides both new and experienced collectors.
Dave the Moneyer. The website of Dave Greenhalgh who produces coins in the mediaeval manner. This link points to the section relating to the history of minting and coin production.
Other countries
Irish Rarities is the website of Del Parker, a bronze sponsor of the Numismatic Association of Australia, located in Dallas, Texas.
Classical Coins, A very interesting and well-constructed US site specializing in Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Persian coins
Coin Today, is daily numismatic and gold investment news, from the US.
Rich Hartzog, World Exonumia Tokens, mostly US, interesting token-related articles and extensive listing of books on token subjects.
Medals of the World. The website of Hedley Betts has a wonderful selection of world medals at
