Australia’s 2020 $2 Firefighter coin was designed to be a collectable, but an error on the obverse side has made some even more so.
The coins were released in the aftermath of the Black Summer to commemorate the brave firefighters who battled bushfires across Australia, nine of whom died.
On the tails side, it features a male and female firefighter standing back to back as they wield their hoses against flames. A vivid, orange and yellow fireball sits in the middle.
The coins were released into the general market, while uncirculated, packaged ones were also available for purchase from the Royal Australian Mint (RAM).
But a handful of the commemorative coins were minted with an error.
It meant the coloured flame design was printed on the wrong side, right over the top of the late Queen’s face.
The type of error is aptly named a bullseye, or an error in which the paint or coloured image is wrongly applied to the head side of a coin.
It’s particularly common in Australia, where the typically circular designs on limited edition coins mean a mistake can plant a rather inappropriate bullseye symbol directly on the monarch’s head.
Tiny errors on otherwise ordinary coins can cause them to soar in value on the collectors’ market, and the $2 bullseye Firefighter is no exception.
An uncirculated (and therefore, mint condition) example of the coin sold at Downies Collectables for a staggering $5950.
The collectable retailer described Firefighter bullseye coin as “excessively rare in any grade”.
“Instead of hitting the middle of the reverse design with the colour motif, the RAM scored a ‘bullseye’ on the Queen’s portrait!” a listing description for the now-sold coin read.
“One of a handful of known $2 Bullseyes, this coin was retrieved from a RAM Roll and is in uncirculated quality.”
Coin expert David Jobson, director of Town Hall Coins and Collectables, confirmed the rare coin was worth thousands.
“Very few of them exist … So, depending on quality, they can be worth about $6000,” he told The Morning Show in 2020, when the error was discovered.
For those who haven’t been lucky enough to find one of the error coins, even regular Firefighter $2 coins can be worth more than their shop value.
One of the correctly minted coins, still in its coin-in-card packaging, is on sale at The Purple Penny for $20.
Get in touch — chloe.whelan@news.com.au