The new Perth Mint Mintage Policy has been finalised.

It addresses issues and questions raised on our blogs and in other coin forums about some Perth Mint practices.

If you are one of those who contributed, thanks for your input. The opportunity to review our practices and provide clarity to collectors and investors is timely.

• Read the Mintage Policy on our collector site
• Read the Mintage Policy on our bullion site

Here are the key points that will be of most interest:

Maximum Mintage

Every limited issue coin will have its Maximum Mintage clearly stated upfront. A Maximum Mintage is the total number of pieces we will strike for release – without exception.

The Maximum Mintage will be announced in advertising and promotional materials, on our web platforms, and (for collectable issues) in accompanying Certificates of Authenticity.

Packaging Variation Issue Limit

We will continue to release some coins in packaging variations – ie individually, in a set, or as part of a collection. As stressed above, however, Maximum Mintages will not be exceeded.

In such a scenario, we will apply an Issue Limit to each packaging variation. Both the Issue Limit and the Maximum Mintage of the coin or coins concerned will be clearly stated in promotional materials and the Certificate.

Bullion Manufacturing

Some commenters have discussed what they refer to as “re-strikes”, a case in point being the 1992 Australian Kookaburra 1oz silver bullion coin which has become something of a cause célèbre.

It is not. It simply demonstrates the Mint’s prerogative to mint bullion and numismatic coins to their Maximum Mintage over time while interest remains. (The exception being the Australian Lunar I Series, which was permanently cut-off in 2007 and its mintage Declared.)

On a related point, we cannot change the year-date on any coin without submitting it as a design change to Australian Federal Treasury. If we were to do so, it would be deemed a new and separate coin issue.

Specimen Coins

Although we thought it was based on sound reasons, the previous decision to describe packaged bullion coins as specimen quality was inappropriate.

This practice is amended and our definition of specimen quality now relates exclusively to bullion-like strikes featuring one or more numismatic treatments.

Policy Implementation

The new Mintage Policy is being implemented immediately. As I said in my previous post, however, because we work in advance there are some products now awaiting release that may not fully adhere to its principles.

As usual, we’d value your feedback. Please leave comments or questions and I’ll be delighted to respond should further explanations be required.

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There has been some discussion on this blog recently in connection with our numismatic mintages.

Some collectors expressed irritation at the forthcoming release of a 2oz Silver Proof Lunar 12-Coin Collection, which in their eyes doubled the mintage of coins previously only available in an annual Three-Coin Set.

Similar concerns were raised about next month’s 2012 Silver Proof High Relief Four-Coin Set. Writers said that the release increased the mintages of Kangaroo, Kookaburra, Koala and Dragon high reliefs already available in individual presentation packaging.

I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the discussion and to let you know your comments were considered at a full meeting of the marketing department, as promised.

 Total vs. Certificate Mintages

In response, the maximum number of collectable coins we are permitted to strike is actually established in the Currency Determinations issued by Australian Treasury under the Australian Currency Act 1965. We always state a maximum mintage when we apply for approval of a collectable coin.

In the case of the high relief Dragon, Treasury (as requested by the Mint) gave approval to strike up to 30,000 coins. Subsequently, we decided to release just 7,500 coins in individual presentation packaging – leaving a balance of 22,500 that could still legally be issued.

For obvious reasons of rarity and collectability, it is unlikely that we will ever do this, although we have decided to make an extra 1,000 available in the 2012 High Relief Year Set. In most people’s books, that’s a relatively minor increase in the overall quantity available in the market.

There are many other examples of this practice. Just 1,500 1oz Silver Lunar Typesets are issued annually. Each coin in this collection is also released individually, and this hasn’t previously been raised as a problem.

Australian Nugget 1oz gold proof coin collectors may well recall the many packaging variations on offer in 2005!

What we’re doing with the new 12 Coin Collection and the High Relief Year Set is entirely consistent with past practice. Not everyone likes it, but we try to make available a variety of combinations of our products to suit the tastes of various collectors.

Where redress is required, perhaps, is in the wording of our Certificates of Authenticity. Consequently, we have agreed to amend the Certificate mintage statement to include the words “in this packaging”.

For example:  The Perth Mint will release no more than 7,500 of these coins in this packaging.

(Some Certificates for future releases have already been printed and this may take a few months to implement fully.)

I’d like to remind readers that Perth Mint collectables remain exceptionally limited by comparison with several other world mints. Combined with superb design and manufacturing quality, these mintages play an important role in explaining why so many have become avid fans of our numismatic pieces.

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This graph will be interesting to those who read our recent blog post New Coin Releases Come Early For Collectors In 2012.

In it we announced the online availability of our latest coins at just after midnight on Tuesday 3 January 2012.

As explained in that post, traditionally we announce details of new products around 9.00am Perth time on launch day. Recently, this has resulted in a stampede of online and telephone orders from within Australia, putting pressure on internal sales and administration systems.

The graph reveals the impact of the change of schedule. Even though January was not such a big month as November, it achieved a positive outcome.

The red line portrays the sharp rise in transactions in the first few hours of our November 2011 product launch.

In contrast, the blue line shows a more gently build up of transactions in January 2012, thanks to the earlier release hour.

As a consequence, our systems handled demand more effectively, resulting in improved levels of client satisfaction (although we did experience short-term difficulties with the availability of one product because of unrelated technical problems).

The result ensures that we will continue with this new practice. While it is encouraging, however, it is not the final solution to the underlying issues. Consequently, we remain fully committed to the complete review of our website, telephone, back-end systems and other support infrastructure.

This redevelopment is now in progress, but as I stated in the last post, the full extent of these changes will take time to implement fully.