Six rare 1930s Australian pennies could fetch more than $60k each

People could be sitting on an easy way to make money with Australians urged to check their homes for the rare coins.

Six Australians have uncovered rare 1930s pennies after searching through their drawers and could cash in big from the discovery.

Last month, another rare 1930s penny was sold breaking an Australian record when it went under the hammer for a whopping $60,000.

“Following the news of the penny breaking a record at Lloyds Auctions, people were flooding our phones in hopes they had one of these rare pennies, and from this we have now seen six more come to auction,” said Lee Hames, chief operations officer for Lloyds Auctions.

“We had customers going through their drawers following the news on the last penny sale and to the surprise of some custodians they found their own 1930s penny which we now have up for auction.”

Collectively the six pennies could fetch a six-figure sum when they go to auction this Sunday.

“Two of the pennies have a grading of very fine, that being better than the penny we sold last month, so we could possibly see these two pennies break another record,” Mr Hames added.

“The market for pennies and numismatics is really strong at the moment and people don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to make the best of it.”

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A 1930 Australian one penny. Picture: Lloyd's Auctions

The rare penny sold last month featured partial diamond and six pearls on King George V’s crown and smashed a previous record where a coin was sold for $30,000.

The penny was a product of the Great Depression where in 1929, there was such deflation due to Australia’s economy shrinking significantly, it caused a lower demand for currency.

This resulted in no pennies being ordered to be minted by the government at that time.

However, due to the ‘accidental’ minting of the 1930 penny, there ended up being 3000 produced, but only around 1500 ended up in circulation, with many of these coins being damaged and discarded over the years.

A collection of coins. Picture: Lloyd's's Auctions

It is unknown exactly how many are in collectors’ hands today.

“A once by-product of economic depression is now a symbol of prosperity, the ultimate cherry on top for any coin collector,” said Mr Hames.

“We have been seeing an influx of collectables come into Lloyds Auctions with people wanting to sell their old or valued treasures to make some extra cash, and we encourage people to bring in their collectables to be valued.”

Also, on offer at the auction is a 1925 Australian One Penny – the second rarest penny following the 1930s ones and is very high in grade, according to Lloyds Auctions.

There is also a 1923 Australian Half Penny, which was an error coin and is Australia’s rarest half penny.