A Search for Minting Varieties of Australian Pre-Decimal Coins 1910- 1964: Half

[Nevol]

An Aussie on "another" Forum has alerted us to the existance of this book.

 "A Search for Minting Varieties of Australian Pre-Decimal Coins 1910- 1964: Half Penny to Five Shillings"
by Mostyn Arthur Byrnes; 1st Edition: 2000
published by: Cosmos Collectables,
Box 188, North Ryde, N.S.W. 1670

Cosmos Cellectables 2000 was his Dad's business name & the PO box was also his Dad's.

This book was published in 2000 by Mostyn Arthur Byrnes who passed away in Jan 2007.  His son, John is trying to locate 2 copies of this book, one to keep as a memento of his Father & one to ‘cut’ up to turn into a PDF to be distributed amongst interested collectors. 

He hopes to get enough people to set up a cooperative to defray the costs involved in doing the PDF.  He now holds the copyright to the book.

If you are interested in becoming part of the cooperative, please either post your willingness to contribute here or PM me so I can let John know if there will be enough members to achieve this project.

Of course, it all depends on him finding 2 copies of the book. 

According to the Tasmanian Numismatist newsletter of April 2000 in a review written by Ian McConnelly:

“This is THE book to have for varieties! The size is an easy to handle soft covered A4 format x 10mm thick, and, at its least, it signals a rebirth of an interesting numismatic area that others who follow may wish to enhance or expand upon in due course!
It was designed to cater for beginners, and other novices, through to the more experienced Australian pre-decimal collector, and it appears to have succeeded in its aim. In my copy - which was from the initial run of 100 that were printed - this reviewer noted that several small errors have been hand-corrected. These few corrections by the author make these first 100 books rather unique and, of course, will not appear in any subsequent runs.
All in all, the presentation was good and I am pleased with the effort made by Mos Byrnes to revitalise the interest in varieties that had languished in the doldrums for such a long period.
The main variety topics are the Halfpenny and Penny, but other denominations that have major known varieties have been also listed and, in total, 950 varieties are detailed.
Some photos have been used, but the author has opted to go with graphics for the sake of clarity on the majority of examples.
This reviewer found this style of illustration a little unusual at first but, after trying to discern fine die cracks on my own examples, I could appreciate the merit of the idea. The descriptive graphics are clearer than a photo image could hope to be and they make the variety fault very easy to locate and identify.
The book contains 140 pages and there are 12 sections. The 3 major sections cover the varieties in Half-pennies, Pennies and the other denominations, whist others cover such things as RAM information, the author's own discoveries, sources of coins, and a readers discussion section. There is also a section on US errors and varieties presented by a well-known American varieties expert 'Mr. Z.' - Frank Zapushek. Orders are now being prepared for both the national and international readers who have found this fascinating 'new' area of pre-decimal Australian numismatics something to get their teeth into again. As the first trial run is now nearly fully subscribed a second run is now contemplated and, hopefully, will soon be on the drawing board.” There is also a section on US errors and varieties presented by a well-known American varieties expert 'Mr. Z.' - Frank Zapushek.

[Topher]

I think this would be a great project for the KOTCT to assist with.  What better way to promote education in coin collecting.  I'm certainly interested to be a part.

[Pocketcoins]

I agree with Topher. This could be worth looking into.  I almost forgot the National ibrary of Australia has at list 2 copys. I don't know if it would be possible to get them to part with them thoue.

[ElleKitty]

I think this would be a fantastic book to have in any Library for those interested in Australian Predec coins!  Count me in.

[Topher]

I'd even like to suggest that if we do track down a copy, that the KOTCT purchase it to send to the author's son.  I'd certainly be willing to donate a few dollars to the cause, and it would be a great way to contribute to this hobby.

I have yet to find a copy, but if it can be found on the internet, I can usually find it.

[Nevol]

Hey Topher, What an excellent idea.  I'd certainly make a contribution towards purchasing a copy for John.  He would be 'over the moon' I reckon.

Let's keep this search alive & maybe, just maybe, someone will happen across a copy. 

Perhaps the obvious person to get in touch with would be Ian MCconnelly, the person who wrote the preview.  I'd bet London to a brick that if he had a copy in 2000, he'd still have it.  I'm presently trying to get an address for him & will keep everyone updated with any results.   

If I can, I want to get John & Ian in touch with each other as if Ian doesn't have a copy, I'm sure the Tassie Numismatic Society or one of it's members is sure to have one. Fingers crossed. 

[Topher]

I've only tracked down the two copies in the Australian National Library, but that doesn't mean much.  There are two copies of my Master's Thesis in the Library of Congress, and I don't expect ANYONE to read that!  LOL

Keep us posted on any news from Ian or the Tassie N.S.  Those would be great places to start.

[AdamL]

Its a worthy cause. I don't have much, but I could probably scrape up an extra 10 bucks to contribute, if that would help at all.

[Nevol]

I've now got a postal address for Ian Mcconnelly & have sent the info to John so they can communicate directly.  I hope this all works out, as eventually we collectors will be the 'winners'.

[rggoodie]

Nevol and I are in constant contact with John.

If he finds a copy he is going to allow us to copy (photograph, scan etc.) the book and make it a pdf for all to see for free.  At this point I will be hosting it on my site. We look for other places to host it as well.
But
We have to find a copy first.

[LordPercy]

This sounds like a great idea; it sounds like a fantastic reference book. I'm happy to help in any way. Just let me know.

[rggoodie]

We are still researching the options
once we find it I will post
I will also post the pdf once it is available