A North Queensland coin and stamp dealer says coronavirus has helped him sell a rare coin worth $60,000 that had sat on his shelf for years.
John Platts and his wife have been running a store in Mackay and were just days away from shutting the doors when they saw a massive turnaround in trade.
"We weren't getting any customers and major shops were closing, so we thought there was no way people would come into the city to see us," he said.
"But within a matter of days, we went from basically closed to busier than we have ever been."
Mr Platts said the surge in interest was all through online sales which were up 500 per cent.
Struggling to keep up with demand
Mr Platts said he believed the lockdown restrictions had given people time to go through their stamp and coin collections and find what they were missing.
That meant he had to go looking for stock in his backyard shed to keep up with demand.
"I've had to try and find things to put online because we keep running out of everything," Mr Platts said.
"We've also had to double our order of new stock from the Royal Australian Mint and other suppliers."
The most significant recent sale was a gold half-sovereign from 1855 — the size of a five-cent piece and worth more than $60,000.
"There are just 10 of them in the world, with this one sold to a buyer in Melbourne after sitting on my shelf for two years," Mr Platts said.
He said there had also been an enormous increase in people seeking to buy nuggets of gold and silver.
"The value of gold and silver has gone through the roof and we have seen a huge demand," Mr Platts said.
"Every day we have people asking and we just can't get hold of stock."
A hobby for the ages
The renewed interest in coins made Mr Platts hopeful that people would continue to use currency.
But he accepted that the world was moving towards a cashless society.
"It is very sad, because that's our history," Mr Platts said.
"And everyone at some point in their lives has collected coins or stamps."
He said it was encouraging that people were purchasing more commonly found items.
"Our $1 notes, we had been taking them to the bank to get our dollar back, but now we're selling them online for $2," he said.
"Our 50-cent pennies are now selling for $1."
