Operation Fastbuck, Decimal Star notes, Mint Sets

Letters to Editor
April 1971
Australian Coin Review Volume 7 No 10

Star Notes

Sir, - Could you please identify two $1 bills for me.
These notes came to light in the latter half of 1966.
Normal notes have three letters and six numbers but these particular notes have three letters, five numbers and a star. The serial numbers of these notes are ZAC 17021* and ZAC 33792*. Both notes are Coombs and Wilson.
If you could tell me why these notes were printed and their approximate value.
One has been circulated and shows a lot of wear. The other has not been circulated to any extent and was received from a bank.
Yours, etc
XXXX XXXXX
Dubbo, NSW

Star notes are simply replacement notes. If a note is defective in the printing or for any other reason it is taken out of its series and replaced by a star note. Close records are kept of all such notes. It is worth only face value.

Uncirculated sets get the 'bubble' treatment....

Greg McDonald
May 1984
Australian Coin Review Volume 20 No 11

With surprisingly little fanfare or advance publicity, the Royal Australian Mint will be breaking new ground with the 1984 issue of its Uncirculated sets. There will be no mint wallet in the style we have become accustomed to for 1984.
This year the mint will follow the pattern set by the UK and various other countries and issue a "blister pack". A blister pack isn't something you end up with by leaving your coins in direct sunlight for extended lengths of time. It's a rather strange term to describe coins encased in a plastic "bubble". I'm sure the new approach will be welcomed by collectors although I find it curious that the change wasn't given more emphasis in the order forms sent out recently.
A spokesperson for Jaggard Mint Sales, the official distributor, said the new blister pack will be much more attractive than its predecessor, the vinyl mint wallet. The packing will be similar in style to British counterparts, with cardboard covers opening up to show the coins suspended inside like the pages of a book. The spokesperson said the glossy cardboard covers featured full-cover photographs of animals depicted on our coins as well as a photograph of the mint itself. He said the basic background colour of the set was "a very attractive blue."
A spokesperson for the Royal Australian Mint, Mr Bruce McClellan, said the change in packaging was in line with the mint updating its products like any other supplier. He counted out the total demise of the vinyl mint wallets by saying any future decision would depend on public reaction to the new blister pack. He confirmed that the new sets will not contain the $1 coin. "There will be a proof and Uncirculated version of the $1 coin although it is unlikely anything will be announced before the middle of this year," Mr McClellan added.
What with the new $1, the new $100 note and the new blister pack, 1984 looks like being an interesting year for the collector.

Operation Fastbuck

Posted in Aussiecoins Forum
Jan 2006

In mid-1965 as a Commonwealth Car Driver, I was selected with 2 others from the Victorian car pool to take part in the delivery of the Decimal coinage in Victoria.
There were 3 groups formed to transport the coins within the State by road convoy. Each group consisted of the following personnel, 2 Commonwealth Heavy Transport Drivers, 1 Commonwealth Car Driver, 3 Commonwealth Police Officers & 2 Bank Officers as leaders of the group. About 6 trips were undertaken by each group between November 1965 & February 1966, each trip lasting 4 or 5 days duration.
3 vehicles were used by each group. A Semi-Trailer (carrying locked containers,) An armoured Delivery Van (used by the Bank Officers for the actual deliveries) & a Car (whose task was to provide Federal Police escort for the Semi). Local police provided security for the vehicles during overnight stops at designated locations.
On the completion of the exercise the Reserve Bank provided a small function at the then Reserve Bank Offices in Collins St. Melbourne, where each participant was presented with a personally inscribed Wallet, containing one of each denomination of the new coinage.
I understand that a similar presentation took part in all States with a total of 70 Wallets presented Australia wide. Very few of these wallets have been disposed of through Coin Dealers, & I understand that there are collectors out there who would require these items to complete a Decimal Currency collection.
As I am not a collector & would consider selling my wallet could anyone please give me their opinion of a present day value, and how would I go about selling the item. I believe the last sale occurred in 1988 for approx $700.00.

I would also be interested in any other known information about "Operation Fastbuck"

Charlie was kind enough to provide some interesting anecdotes about Operation Fastbuck and they are reproduced in their entirety here.

There are several "Incidents" that occurred during the trips that I did during the Coinage delivery.
Prior to the start of the actual deliveries the first "job" that I was given was to provide transport for a Federal Police Officer, whose task was to provide "cover" for a shipment of coins that arrived from the UK. The ship had docked at Melbourne's South Wharf with several hundred sealed timber boxes that had to be transferred to a Semi-Trailer for transport to a secure Deer Park Government facility. There was a lengthy demarcation dispute with the Melbourne "Wharfies" as to who would actually off-load the boxes. The Govt. provided a team of men to do the job, but the Wharfies refused to allow them to touch the cargo, or board the ship, under threat of shutting down the Port. After about 3 hour's negotiation, it was decided to allow the "Wharfies" to conduct the transfer to the Semi which had parked about 10 metres from the gangplank. Commonwealth Police stood shoulder to shoulder lining the path to the truck. Even then, at the completion of the transfer it was discovered that one box was not accounted for. A lengthy frantic search of the ship uncovered the missing box at the bow of the ship, under a pile of ropes The "Wharfies" that had lined the side of the ship, broke into laughter & cheers as the box was placed on the truck. It was all a setup.

Due to these delays, it was 5.00pm as we started the journey to Deer Park. The Semi-Trailer with boxes covered with tarpaulins followed by my Falcon Station Wagon with a red-haired Police Officer with a strong English accent, with a loaded Owen Machine Gun on the floor of the Car. It had started to rain heavily, & as we proceeded through the City area slowed by peak traffic, a young lad about 16, riding a Bicycle, hitched a ride by holding onto the rear of the Semi. The Police Officer wound down the window & called to the young man to move away from the Semi. The lad looked back & gave the plain-clothes Policeman a cheeky grin, a finger in the air, & continued his free ride. The Policeman was now quite agitated, as he thought that if the lad was to accidentally go under the wheels of the truck, we would be there all night. He asked me to close the gap between the 2 vehicles, & as I complied, he raised the Owen Gun to the open window & again yelled to the boy to get away from the truck. On seeing the gun the young man took off like a shot up the road. I wonder if that lad remembers the incident to this day, & believes he may have been involved in some "gangster" shoot-out.

On another occasion, with that same Police Officer, escorting a delivery in Warragul, the truck was required to go down a narrow lane behind the shops in the main St. We were only moving slowly & a tray truck came out from the back of one of the shops between our 2 vehicles. The Officer insisted that I pass the other vehicle & get back behind the truck. This I managed in the narrow lane, but not without taking both door handles on the passenger side off on the tray of the truck. I had a devil of a job explaining that to my superiors.

On another occasion we arrived at a small country town north of Ballarat about 7.00pm where we were to spend the night, we could not find the local State Policeman, whose task it was to stand guard over the Semi overnight. The local publican believed he was at a 21st birthday party being held in a local house. The senior Bank Officer contacted the home by telephone & spoke to the Policeman who refused to come to the station as he was "Under the Weather" & did not know of the arrangements. The Bank Officer then called an emergency contact number & 20 minutes later four Police Cars, sirens blaring, arrived from Ballarat to take up guard duty. I think the Local Copper is still standing to attention.

At another overnight stop the local police wanted our driver to park the truck in the grounds of the local church next door to the station so they could conduct their surveillance from their office. It had been raining heavily & our driver judged that while he could get the truck to where it was wanted, with the slippery grass, he would not be able to get it out without the trailer sliding into a large cyclone fence dividing the two properties. The Police insisted that he could get out in the morning without hitting the fence. We did get out the following morning but not before we took 50 metres of Cyclone fence down, & leaving some very red-face policemen to sort out the problem with the local Vicar.

Photo supplied by Charlie Browne

1969 Specimen 50c/Yarralumla PNC

Correspondence with Ray Dobson, one of the founding members of Nuphil Associates.
Jan/Feb 2006

I searched on Google for info regarding the above coins and found your site about the 1969 Specimen strikes.
At that time I was a partner in Nuphil Associates Ltd of Christchurch, NZ. There were only 2 of us in the company, Varian J. Wilson and myself, W. Ray Dobson. Varian did the actual work in producing the covers in Canberra with the help of Ray Whelan of Healesville, Vic.
..........I could take a day or 2 to put my thoughts in order and send you a full account and include a copy of our Newsletter re these covers and a scan of one of my covers.
Regards,
Ray Dobson.
PS. I am 80 now so like to take my time over things. Varian died some years ago.
WRD.

I have reprinted Nuphil's Newsletter #1 which deals with this cover and have added colour scans of both sides of one of my covers (#0001) together with some more about Nuphil and the cover.
You may use this in any way you like and publish my name, email and postal addresses, phone #, etc, etc.
One of these covers was sold in Downie's auction # 288 (Item #1014). They said the issue was limited to 1,200 examples.

Just some additional info about the above. I was looking through some very old Nuphil Associates Ltd material when I found an advert we had placed in Lynn's Stamp Weekly in the US sometime in 1970.
It seems we had prepared 1,330 covers so there must have been at least that number of 1969 50c Specimen coins.
We offered them at $US7.50 each! In 1970 the exchange rate was $Aust1.00 = $US1.11 so they probably sold at $7.00 in Australia.

Correspondance recieved in May 2006

In 1969 a partner, Varian j. Wilson, in a Christchurch, New Zealand firm, Nuphil Associates Ltd, arranged with the RAM, Canberra to prepare a Philatelic Numismatic Cover (PNC) containing the new 50c coin to be released that year. On arrival at the Mint Varian found that, in order to fill his order for the coins, a special striking of the coins had been made and were available for him to prepare the covers. However, he was not permitted to take the coins away from the Mint until the official release date but was given facilities to prepare the covers there. This he, with the assistance of a Victorian coin-dealer, Ray Whelan of Healesville, did over a number of days working while the Mint was open.

On 1st September, 1969, they took the covers to the Yarralumla Post Office for postmarking. They were then delivered to Nuphil Associates Ltd, PO Box 962, Canberra City, where they were backstamped on the same date.

Nuphil Associates Ltd was a very small company consisting of myself, W. Ray Dobson, and Varian J. Wilson. Varian was a semi-retired clinical psychologist so was in a position to travel while I had a busy pharmacy to run so was somewhat tied. Varian and I had met through our mutual interest in coin collecting and had set up our company to prepare PNCs to mark New Zealand's change to decimal currency in 1967. We had established a fiendly relationship with a Victorian coin dealer, Ray Whelan, of Healesville who assisted Varian in preparing the covers in Canberra and would be responsible for the sale of them in Australia.

I regret I am unable to throw any light on the question of how many coins were struck in the special striking but, from an advert we placed in a US publication, Lynn's Stamp News, in 1969 or 1970 it seems we prepared 1,330 covers. These were priced at $US7.50 each which would equate to about $Aust7.00 at that time. That there was an excess of coins over covers produced I do know as, on his return, Varian gave me 6 of the coins in unstamped and unpostmarked covers, which I have since sold. He also gave me 4 of the covers (#s 0001, 0089, 0090, 0091) which I still have today.

Two points I would like to mention. It has been suggested that we (Nuphil Associates Ltd) financially assisted the RAM to install a specialist press to strike the Specimen coins. This cannot be true as we were cash-strapped to the extent we had difficulty in paying for Varian's trip to Canberra and buying the coins and certainly had nothing left over. There is a faint possibility that Ray Whelan financed this but I have no recollection of any such deal. It has also been suggested that mounting the coins in card and covering them in plastic has caused them to lose their original bright, lustrous state and turn a dull, steel grey. This could well be true as the coins in my covers are all in this dull state and, as suggested, "not very appealing at all". What the coins were like when I received them in 1969 I cannot now remember.

I have not heard of the covers being referred to as the "Yarralumla Covers" but can well imagine Varian posting them there if it was the most convenient post office to the RAM. We referred to them as "Nu27" as they were the 27th cover we had produced The covers were originally sold mainly in Australia and the US, very few in New Zealand.

Main Fast buck, Star notes and Bubbles
preserving for prosperity etc etc
Letters to Editor April 1971 Australian Coin Review Volume 7 No 10
	Star Notes Sir, - Could you please identify two $1 bills for me. These notes came to light in the latter half of 1966. Normal notes have three letters and six numbers but these particular notes have three letters, five numbers and a star. The serial numbers of these notes are ZAC 17021* and ZAC 33792. Both notes are Coombs and Wilson. If you could tell me why these notes were printed and their approximate value. One has been circulated and shows a lot of wear. The other has not been circulated to any extent and was received from a bank. Yours, etc XXXX XXXXX Dubbo, NSW* Star notes are simply replacement notes. If a note is defective in the printing or for any other reason it is taken out of its series and replaced by a star note. Close records are kept of all such notes. It is worth only face value.
Uncirculated sets get the 'bubble' treatment.... Greg McDonald May 1984 Australian Coin Review Volume 20 No 11 With surprisingly little fanfare or advance publicity, the Royal Australian Mint will be breaking new ground with the 1984 issue of its Uncirculated sets. There will be no mint wallet in the style we have become accustomed to for 1984. This year the mint will follow the pattern set by the UK and various other countries and issue a "blister pack". A blister pack isn't something you end up with by leaving your coins in direct sunlight for extended lengths of time. It's a rather strange term to describe coins encased in a plastic "bubble". I'm sure the new approach will be welcomed by collectors although I find it curious that the change wasn't given more emphasis in the order forms sent out recently. A spokesperson for Jaggard Mint Sales, the official distributor, said the new blister pack will be much more attractive than its predecessor, the vinyl mint wallet. The packing will be similar in style to British counterparts, with cardboard covers opening up to show the coins suspended inside like the pages of a book. The spokesperson said the glossy cardboard covers featured full-cover photographs of animals depicted on our coins as well as a photograph of the mint itself. He said the basic background colour of the set was "a very attractive blue." A spokesperson for the Royal Australian Mint, Mr Bruce McClellan, said the change in packaging was in line with the mint updating its products like any other supplier. He counted out the total demise of the vinyl mint wallets by saying any future decision would depend on public reaction to the new blister pack. He confirmed that the new sets will not contain the $1 coin. "There will be a proof and Uncirculated version of the $1 coin although it is unlikely anything will be announced before the middle of this year," Mr McClellan added. What with the new $1, the new $100 note and the new blister pack, 1984 looks like being an interesting year for the collector.
Operation Fastbuck Posted in Aussiecoins Forum Jan 2006 In mid-1965 as a Commonwealth Car Driver, I was selected with 2 others from the Victorian car pool to take part in the delivery of the Decimal coinage in Victoria. There were 3 groups formed to transport the coins within the State by road convoy. Each group consisted of the following personnel, 2 Commonwealth Heavy Transport Drivers, 1 Commonwealth Car Driver, 3 Commonwealth Police Officers & 2 Bank Officers as leaders of the group. About 6 trips were undertaken by each group between November 1965 & February 1966, each trip lasting 4 or 5 days duration. 3 vehicles were used by each group. A Semi-Trailer (carrying locked containers,) An armoured Delivery Van (used by the Bank Officers for the actual deliveries) & a Car (whose task was to provide Federal Police escort for the Semi). Local police provided security for the vehicles during overnight stops at designated locations. On the completion of the exercise the Reserve Bank provided a small function at the then Reserve Bank Offices in Collins St. Melbourne, where each participant was presented with a personally inscribed Wallet, containing one of each denomination of the new coinage. I understand that a similar presentation took part in all States with a total of 70 Wallets presented Australia wide. Very few of these wallets have been disposed of through Coin Dealers, & I understand that there are collectors out there who would require these items to complete a Decimal Currency collection. As I am not a collector & would consider selling my wallet could anyone please give me their opinion of a present day value, and how would I go about selling the item. I believe the last sale occurred in 1988 for approx $700.00. I would also be interested in any other known information about "Operation Fastbuck" Charlie was kind enough to provide some interesting anecdotes about Operation Fastbuck and they are reproduced in their entirety here. There are several "Incidents" that occurred during the trips that I did during the Coinage delivery. Prior to the start of the actual deliveries the first "job" that I was given was to provide transport for a Federal Police Officer, whose task was to provide "cover" for a shipment of coins that arrived from the UK. The ship had docked at Melbourne's South Wharf with several hundred sealed timber boxes that had to be transferred to a Semi-Trailer for transport to a secure Deer Park Government facility. There was a lengthy demarcation dispute with the Melbourne "Wharfies" as to who would actually off-load the boxes. The Govt. provided a team of men to do the job, but the Wharfies refused to allow them to touch the cargo, or board the ship, under threat of shutting down the Port. After about 3 hour's negotiation, it was decided to allow the "Wharfies" to conduct the transfer to the Semi which had parked about 10 metres from the gangplank. Commonwealth Police stood shoulder to shoulder lining the path to the truck. Even then, at the completion of the transfer it was discovered that one box was not accounted for. A lengthy frantic search of the ship uncovered the missing box at the bow of the ship, under a pile of ropes The "Wharfies" that had lined the side of the ship, broke into laughter & cheers as the box was placed on the truck. It was all a setup. Due to these delays, it was 5.00pm as we started the journey to Deer Park. The Semi-Trailer with boxes covered with tarpaulins followed by my Falcon Station Wagon with a red-haired Police Officer with a strong English accent, with a loaded Owen Machine Gun on the floor of the Car. It had started to rain heavily, & as we proceeded through the City area slowed by peak traffic, a young lad about 16, riding a Bicycle, hitched a ride by holding onto the rear of the Semi. The Police Officer wound down the window & called to the young man to move away from the Semi. The lad looked back & gave the plain-clothes Policeman a cheeky grin, a finger in the air, & continued his free ride. The Policeman was now quite agitated, as he thought that if the lad was to accidentally go under the wheels of the truck, we would be there all night. He asked me to close the gap between the 2 vehicles, & as I complied, he raised the Owen Gun to the open window & again yelled to the boy to get away from the truck. On seeing the gun the young man took off like a shot up the road. I wonder if that lad remembers the incident to this day, & believes he may have been involved in some "gangster" shoot-out. On another occasion, with that same Police Officer, escorting a delivery in Warragul, the truck was required to go down a narrow lane behind the shops in the main St. We were only moving slowly & a tray truck came out from the back of one of the shops between our 2 vehicles. The Officer insisted that I pass the other vehicle & get back behind the truck. This I managed in the narrow lane, but not without taking both door handles on the passenger side off on the tray of the truck. I had a devil of a job explaining that to my superiors. On another occasion we arrived at a small country town north of Ballarat about 7.00pm where we were to spend the night, we could not find the local State Policeman, whose task it was to stand guard over the Semi overnight. The local publican believed he was at a 21st birthday party being held in a local house. The senior Bank Officer contacted the home by telephone & spoke to the Policeman who refused to come to the station as he was "Under the Weather" & did not know of the arrangements. The Bank Officer then called an emergency contact number & 20 minutes later four Police Cars, sirens blaring, arrived from Ballarat to take up guard duty. I think the Local Copper is still standing to attention. At another overnight stop the local police wanted our driver to park the truck in the grounds of the local church next door to the station so they could conduct their surveillance from their office. It had been raining heavily & our driver judged that while he could get the truck to where it was wanted, with the slippery grass, he would not be able to get it out without the trailer sliding into a large cyclone fence dividing the two properties. The Police insisted that he could get out in the morning without hitting the fence. We did get out the following morning but not before we took 50 metres of Cyclone fence down, & leaving some very red-face policemen to sort out the problem with the local Vicar. Photo supplied by Charlie Browne
1969 Specimen 50c/Yarralumla PNC Correspondence with Ray Dobson, one of the founding members of Nuphil Associates. Jan/Feb 2006 I searched on Google for info regarding the above coins and found your site about the 1969 Specimen strikes. At that time I was a partner in Nuphil Associates Ltd of Christchurch, NZ. There were only 2 of us in the company, Varian J. Wilson and myself, W. Ray Dobson. Varian did the actual work in producing the covers in Canberra with the help of Ray Whelan of Healesville, Vic. ..........I could take a day or 2 to put my thoughts in order and send you a full account and include a copy of our Newsletter re these covers and a scan of one of my covers. Regards, Ray Dobson. PS. I am 80 now so like to take my time over things. Varian died some years ago. WRD. I have reprinted Nuphil's Newsletter #1 which deals with this cover and have added colour scans of both sides of one of my covers (#0001) together with some more about Nuphil and the cover. You may use this in any way you like and publish my name, email and postal addresses, phone #, etc, etc. One of these covers was sold in Downie's auction # 288 (Item #1014). They said the issue was limited to 1,200 examples. Just some additional info about the above. I was looking through some very old Nuphil Associates Ltd material when I found an advert we had placed in Lynn's Stamp Weekly in the US sometime in 1970. It seems we had prepared 1,330 covers so there must have been at least that number of 1969 50c Specimen coins. We offered them at $US7.50 each! In 1970 the exchange rate was $Aust1.00 = $US1.11 so they probably sold at $7.00 in Australia. Correspondance recieved in May 2006 In 1969 a partner, Varian j. Wilson, in a Christchurch, New Zealand firm, Nuphil Associates Ltd, arranged with the RAM, Canberra to prepare a Philatelic Numismatic Cover (PNC) containing the new 50c coin to be released that year. On arrival at the Mint Varian found that, in order to fill his order for the coins, a special striking of the coins had been made and were available for him to prepare the covers. However, he was not permitted to take the coins away from the Mint until the official release date but was given facilities to prepare the covers there. This he, with the assistance of a Victorian coin-dealer, Ray Whelan of Healesville, did over a number of days working while the Mint was open. On 1st September, 1969, they took the covers to the Yarralumla Post Office for postmarking. They were then delivered to Nuphil Associates Ltd, PO Box 962, Canberra City, where they were backstamped on the same date. Nuphil Associates Ltd was a very small company consisting of myself, W. Ray Dobson, and Varian J. Wilson. Varian was a semi-retired clinical psychologist so was in a position to travel while I had a busy pharmacy to run so was somewhat tied. Varian and I had met through our mutual interest in coin collecting and had set up our company to prepare PNCs to mark New Zealand's change to decimal currency in 1967. We had established a fiendly relationship with a Victorian coin dealer, Ray Whelan, of Healesville who assisted Varian in preparing the covers in Canberra and would be responsible for the sale of them in Australia. I regret I am unable to throw any light on the question of how many coins were struck in the special striking but, from an advert we placed in a US publication, Lynn's Stamp News, in 1969 or 1970 it seems we prepared 1,330 covers. These were priced at $US7.50 each which would equate to about $Aust7.00 at that time. That there was an excess of coins over covers produced I do know as, on his return, Varian gave me 6 of the coins in unstamped and unpostmarked covers, which I have since sold. He also gave me 4 of the covers (#s 0001, 0089, 0090, 0091) which I still have today. Two points I would like to mention. It has been suggested that we (Nuphil Associates Ltd) financially assisted the RAM to install a specialist press to strike the Specimen coins. This cannot be true as we were cash-strapped to the extent we had difficulty in paying for Varian's trip to Canberra and buying the coins and certainly had nothing left over. There is a faint possibility that Ray Whelan financed this but I have no recollection of any such deal. It has also been suggested that mounting the coins in card and covering them in plastic has caused them to lose their original bright, lustrous state and turn a dull, steel grey. This could well be true as the coins in my covers are all in this dull state and, as suggested, "not very appealing at all". What the coins were like when I received them in 1969 I cannot now remember. I have not heard of the covers being referred to as the "Yarralumla Covers" but can well imagine Varian posting them there if it was the most convenient post office to the RAM. We referred to them as "Nu27" as they were the 27th cover we had produced The covers were originally sold mainly in Australia and the US, very few in New Zealand.
Main

Main

Fast buck, Star notes and Bubbles

Letters to Editor April 1971 Australian Coin Review Volume 7 No 10