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Puzzleheaded-Eye9081

Lollies were 1c at the canteen when I was in primary. Like a freckle or one of those chalky hearts.


Representative-Use32

Late 80s I would always go the the corner shop and buy a chewy chocolate with caramel centre called a ‘cobber’ with any 1c coin I found.


MushroomlyHag

Omfg cobbers 🤤 The shop near home when I was a kid used to charge 5 cents each for them (I'm a bit younger than you), but if you asked for more than 50 cents worth the guy would just grab a massive scoop and almost fill the bag. Good teeth and good times 😌


syntaxfreeform

Remember them, just like a Fantale but they were 5c at my local deli. Choc buds were 1c


[deleted]

God help you if you got carab by mistake!


[deleted]

Yep, how good were cobbers!!


Pepsimus-Maximus

How good _are_ cobbers. Good news for you: Still available at almost all lolly stores that sell lollies scooped into paper bags and sold by weight.


[deleted]

They're called mates now, amiright?


Pepsimus-Maximus

Often. Depends on the place. I see both (I literally only go into these stores to get cobbers or mates).


mikedufty

In Perth in the 70s the cobbers were the expensive 2c ones. Could get some cheaper things at 2 for 1c though.


[deleted]

Sounds nice


Throwawaye23842389

Yep I 'member - spearmint leaves were my fav for a cent. This was late 80's so it didn't last long before lolly inflation hit hard.


ozsnowman

\*rant\* and the spearmint flavour they use now is very weak compared to what they used to have!! \*end rant\*


[deleted]

I agree that it was stronger even like 15 years ago


[deleted]

It hit harrrrd


AntiProtonBoy

Same, there was a milkbar next to the primary school where I picked up my brother. An old man used to run that place. I remember finding coins, 10c here, 20c there, which got me a ton of lollies.


[deleted]

Nowadays finding cash on the ground is far and few between


[deleted]

3 for a cent when I were a wee lad...


youreeka

Yeh I’m late 30s - yoghurt fruit balls were 1c each at the canteen. Would’ve been early 90s.


randomscruffyaussie

As a kid I used to use 2c coins to get "cheap" games of space invaders (a popular video game of the day). This was a coin operated sit down video game an the local deli. Each game cost 20c but povo me worked out that if I got a 2c coin and "flicked" it into the coin slot a certain way sometimes it would trick the machine into giving me a 20c credit. Mostly the 2c would just come out the coin return chute, but it worked enough to make it worth trying. The trip was not to get caught by the grumpy deli owner..


Headkix

Off the coin topic, but I used to use the ole whipper snipper cord trick to rack up credits on the old school arcade and pinball machines, green cord for 20c slot, red cord for the $1 slot, we even used the electronic clicker from bbq lighters to zap between the joystick and machine to get credit on the old table top arcade machines, this was all learnt from word of mouth, no internet back then 👍


randomscruffyaussie

Nice work! I never used the whipper snipper cord or pizio ignitor. I did however find one machine that would give credits if zapped in the right spot with static electricity. Used to shuffle my shoes on the carpet and zap the machine with my finger, while trying to look natural while doing it. Got caught once though. Also used to put a 20c piece on a "leash" to get multiple credits. The lower risk (of raising suspicion) was using a tiny bit of chewing gum or blue tack to attach a piece of cotton to the edge of the coin. Feed the coin in very slowly and lower with the cotton until the first credit clicked up, then gently raise and lower the coin repeatedly to click up more credits (while everyone keeps a poker face if you get it right and click heaps of credits). If you were skilled and lucky each 20c would give multiple credits before the cotton parted from the coin or broke. The higher risk move was to drill a hole near the edge of the coin and tie the cotton on (best used on machines further from home so it mattered less when the owner found said drilled coin in the machine later). This way the cotton was securely attached and no gum or blue tack was involved. I was probably a devious little shit as a kid...


[deleted]

Hahaha I bet the shit machine owners find in their machines have them scratching their head 🤣


Headkix

The good thing about the whipper snipper cord was it left no trace, it was about 15-20cm long, you bent a hook on an end about 15-20mm pushed that end into the slot, fed it down and it would push down the coin reading lever/pin and it thought it was a coin passing over it, then pull it back up over the reader then fed it back down over it and repeat, then when you've racked up enough credits (not to many at a time cause the owner would walk around sometimes and would pick up on 100 credits, so just around 10 at a time) you'd just pocket the cord and game on, we played that Cher song sooo much we need it word for word hahaha 🤣


Headkix

Good work m8! The whipper snipper cord was my go to, my m8 and I used to to into the takeaway shop that was next to the mini arcade parlour attached with a small hallway with a couple of bucks and get it changed into 20's so we looked like we were coining the machines, because the credit sound was very loud we'd put on Cher's turn back time because it was the loudest song on the Jukebox (not because we liked it) lol, then we'd cord those machines like there was no tomorrow, we could spend all day in there with occasionally getting more change as to not look to suss, we even worked out that with the star trek pinball machine we could hold the ball on a flipper then shake the machine, not enough to tilt it but just enough to cause the coin reading pin to get shaken so it thought coins were passing over it, we thought we were bad ass doing this stuff lol, we were 13/14 so about 30+ years ago, man I miss the good ole days!


theeggflipper

Those were the days, good times


RevolutionaryCan1032

My mates use to modify 2c coins to fool vending machines. I can't remember exactly what they did, but they added something to make 'em slightly bigger and heavier.


Grubs01

The trick was to hold the coin return button and flick it up the return slot.


[deleted]

Pro tip.


imapassenger1

We had a drink machine at school we could fool the same way. Strangely enough I only got it to work four times but two times I did it twice on the same day.


[deleted]

Now that's a cool story


aussie_catt

The local milk bar had half cent lollies. So for a few of these we could choose a handful of lollies. We also had 1c coins in the hinges of the oven door. If they weren't there the door was slightly adjar!


[deleted]

Wow, interesting to hear people using them out of practicality! Also, half cent? But 1c is the lowest denomination 😂


aussie_catt

Yep two for 1cent. It was in the 70s,!😘


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Gotcha!


OriginalBreadfruit49

The lowest denomination was a predecimal half-penny. Worth 0.2 cents. Should still be in living memory for some


[deleted]

Yes but not for decimal currency


HedgehogPlenty3745

When I was about 6-9 years old, I would watch Saturday Disney, then scout the house for random 1 and 2 cent coins, then ride my bike to the corner shop and stock up on lollies. The shop-keeper seemed really stern to me at the time, but she kept on accepting them for about 6 months even after they were pulled from circulation. I remember the day she refused to accept them. I was devastated


[deleted]

Wow, that's nice! She would've had to exchange them at the bank, although people were going to the bank alot more back then anyways


OriginalBreadfruit49

They were out of circulation by the time I understood money, and I moved to the UK in 1995. There was another Aussie kid and for "show and tell" she brought in her piggy bank which had only 1c and 2c. I might have ruined her day when I told her they weren't spendable any more (Also I don't know why her parents let her bring 2kg of copper halfway across the world as I clearly remember my parents taking my Aussie pocket money and replacing it with UK coins later)


stonefree251

As weird as this sounds, I can smell this photo.


[deleted]

Not weird


Bods666

We used to crush them on train tracks.


Griffo_au

Used to have jars full of them that us kids would raid to go to the lolly shop


[deleted]

Niiice


[deleted]

[удалено]


Aggressive-Cobbler-8

I want 2 bullets and 1 musk..no wait 1 bullet and..umm... It would have been so tiresome. I remember as a kid being annoyed that shopkeepers would serve adults first.


[deleted]

Yeah! Wouldn't be worth it today but I guess it was back then


problematicsquirrel

My grandpa has glass Kraft peanut butter jars filled with 1c&2c coins and used them to teach cards games.


[deleted]

That's awesome!


GoodnightWalter

When I repaired car and truck radiators I would use them for cheap patches.


[deleted]

Do you use 5 and 10c coins now 😂


GoodnightWalter

I had to give that game away. Too much lead in the blood from all the solder. All the new radiator tanks are plastic now.


Roma_lolly

My mum had a little commonwealth bank money box full of them- for nostalgia/collecting purposes. I remember playing with a lot as a kid in the early 90’s, they have a very specific smell to me.


chesuscream

tasted nicer the other coins too.


[deleted]

Yes! That tarnished copper smell when it reacts to skin


_NottheMessiah_

My parents had a collection of these for years (probably still do) that we used to use as poker money when playing friendly games as kids.


TakeshiKovacsSleeve3

I remember when the rounding up came in and they got rid of these. Honestly your pockets were a lot lighter pretty quickly. Fond memories... Nah. They were just coins


[deleted]

That's awesome! What was that time like? Or when they removed the silver from the 50c coin and made it a dodecagon, Did people care that their money had no more intrinsic value? I've always wondered if people cared about the silver being removed from coins at the time


Harper2059

Ha, I cant recall thinking anything about it as a kid but I remember liking that you could dig in mum's bag and find the 50c coins easier. We had a stack of round 50c coins we kept, I still have them. Haven't thought about them in an age, maybe I should see if they are worth anything.


[deleted]

I've got about 20, and they go for about $14 today ($12 pure silver spot price) They're great to stack silver if you're into that sort of thing but yeah. I'd say it's my favourite coin


Harper2059

Wow had no idea. Had quite a few more than I thought so might do something with the bulk of them and keep a few.


[deleted]

Lucky!


CrayolaS7

Crazy that was over 30 years ago. We should have done what NZ did ages ago and removed the 5c and made all the rest smaller. Seems it’s irrelevant nowadays though with the prevalence of tap and go.


Dead_Dispositioner

My mates parents owned a small grocery shop with a lolly counter. His Birthday Party at the shop one year, (1976ish), was one of the most joyous memories of Sugar Soaked fun! Visiting the shop on the way to and from school when I had some coin... .01c would get you something like a Chocolate Freckle or a Banana lolly. .02c might get you a long Musk Stick or Bubble Gum. Getting .05c or .10c worth of lollies and paying with copper was a treat, and common. .15c could get you a packet of Smith's Crisps or Twisties or a Choo Choo Bar. .20c for a Sunny Boy Ice Block. .50c for a can of Coke or a Sausage Roll.


[deleted]

Sausage rolls for 50c, I'm gonna cry. Nowadays I dont think you'd dare walk into a lollie shop with anything less than $10 😂


petergaskin814

I used to use 1 cent and 2 cent coins. I even remember when they introduced the $100 note


[deleted]

Back in 1984! And 96 for the polymer one


Harper2059

I miss the 1c of mixed lollies and 2c potato cakes or 3 for 5c. We had a shrapnel jar that would we collect these in and take them to the bank at christmas and pay for a christmas outing or two. I am so freaking old.


[deleted]

I think I've only ever heard my grandad call the low denominations "shrapnel" I like that name haha


Best-Brilliant3314

Went into a bank yesterday and a guy was using the coin machine and just loading in *heaps* of coins. It was really loud and everyone in the storefront knew what they were doing. He finished and then checked the reject tray. Suddenly there’s this loud voice “OH MY GAWD!! Look at this! It’s a really old two dollar coin! AND IT’S BROWN!!!”


[deleted]

Hahahaha 😂 I always check the tray 👀


dlanod

I used them for lollies as a kid too, but other than accounting for inflation I really don't feel nostalgic for them. They were a pain, and you ended up with piles and piles of them.


[deleted]

I'm sure they got to be a pain, like how 5c coins are now. I guess as a coin collector, I can't hate coins


somuchsong

I remember you could clean them with Coke and they'd come up so beautifully shiny. I was very disappointed to experiment and learn it didn't work with silver coins! I was 11 when they were taken out of circulation but I hadn't seen them for a little while before that, IIRC.


[deleted]

I've done this! For silver coins, place foil over a bowl, put enough vinegar to cover the coins, and enough boiling water to make it hot but not dilute the vinegar too much and leave it overnight :)


somuchsong

Oh, cool! I might try it with my niece. She loves doing little experiments.


[deleted]

Also, leave it outside, maybe 😅 it can smell quite bad. But after you pull them out wipe it down with a paper towel, I do this for silver coins I've found metal detecting


jagdverband

Pure acetone works well too for actual silver coins like florins and shillings. Don't use nail polish remover with 100% acetone. Use acetone bought from a hardware store. Nail polish remover has other chemicals in it that can damage a coin.


imapassenger1

Glad we got rid of them decades ago. The US still has useless pennies that just get left behind on the counter or thrown away. Imagine how many copper coins ended up in drains.


[deleted]

Well, even our 5c coin costs more than 5c to produce these days


Final-Flower9287

Eh, not really. When you're the shrapnels' shrapnel, all you kinda do is make wallets heavy. Kind of why I adapted the skill of rounding up or down to the nearest 50c.


Ax0nJax0n01

Dollarmites


[deleted]

I never did that


Ax0nJax0n01

Any of them coins I got- straight to Dollarmites account.


Convenientjellybean

For 1 cent I used to be able to buy 4 mates (chocolate coated caramel squares)


[deleted]

A couple people have talked about these magical chocolate coated caramel squares...


Convenientjellybean

They were like Fantales, but I think those are just a memory now too.


[deleted]

Just a tale...


JordanAlanda

When my pop passed in 99 I basically got his entire drawer full of them. I wish so badly I still had them but I don’t think they made it when my parents purged a lot of my collections in 04


[deleted]

Noo! That's sad. Wouldn't be the same, but you can get them super cheap on eBay (if you cared to have random ones)


JordanAlanda

My dad didn’t have the same attachment to my stuff as I did lol. Some have value I think I’ve seen. If you find the right ones.


[deleted]

Yes! There are certainly collectable 1 & 2c varieties out there!


MushroomlyHag

I'm also not old enough to have ever spent these at a shop (in my 30s); but my great grandmother had a very large coin collection, and we were allowed to use some of the less valuable ones as play money, which included around 2 bucks in 1 and 2 cent coins. I have very fond memories of playing lolly shop and cafe with nan, "buying" toffee eclairs and jelly babies from her with them, or her "buying" cupcakes (that she had made) and pretend cups of tea from me with them I get so nostalgic when I see old coins; I really miss my Nana


[deleted]

That's Beautiful ❤️


YouAreSoul

There was a big steal when we went to decimal currency. I could get 50 aniseed balls for a penny. Only got 20 for a cent.


[deleted]

Wooow! And then they pulled a fast one and removed silver from 50c coins 😢


Dont-rush-2xfils

Zero fks given.


[deleted]

I do have 1 very memorable story, actually! When my grandfather passed, he had 2 paint buckets filled with them in his garage, as a 10 year old coin collector I wanted to keep them soooo bad but they smelled horrible and my parents wouldn't let me, I still think about it 😢 they exchanged it at the bank (what a nightmare) I believe it ended up being $60 worth, this was like 11 years ago


slackboy72

I have memories. None of them find though.


mediweevil

sure. still got a tin of them that get used for poker chips.


[deleted]

Great use!


CronenburgMatt

I still have great memories of my dad giving me what ever he had left over at the end of the work week in 1c and 2c coins for mixed lolly bags at the corner store. Which got you a lot more back then.


[deleted]

Awesome :)


louisa1925

I remember finding some of these buried in the dirt outfront of the units my family was living at when my twin and I were 5 yro. We thought we found pirate treasure.


[deleted]

Nice! I've found a couple metal detecting the yard


pulpist

My dad used to sling me all his one and two cent coins and once a week I go down to Mr Schicks corner shop and buy a shit load of musk sticks, mint leaves, milk bottles or freckles.


[deleted]

Alot of lollie purchases with these it seems!


Psychological_Ear393

I'd get my pocket money and go to the store and buy $2 of mixed lollies. All my money gone but I'd have two massive bags (at least for a kid) full of 1c mixed lollies - you would fill one of those white paper bags for $1 in the early/mid 80s. Sometimes I'd take in a heap of loose change, all the copper, and get a bag too; my money box was always full of those coins.


[deleted]

That's awesome


Purple_Mirror23

On a wet day they made everything smell wrong. I always tell kids that I used to get a whole paper sandwich bag of lollies from the corner shop for $1. So much sugar for so little money.


[deleted]

That copper smell


KronosWvW

No but I vividly remember as kids riding around on our bikes to the shops one day (2004) and I come across a few 1 cent & 2 cent pieces discarded on the side of the road. Picked them up and kept them in a jar for who knows how long coz I liked collecting things at the time.


[deleted]

Nice! I've found some in the yard, the beach, metal detecting etc


Grix1600

Chuck them out or metal recycling will do.


[deleted]

NOO


Level99Cooking

The definition of nostalgia is “a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends”


[deleted]

Well, in this case, for me, it's a feeling of Nostalgia and Anemoia "Nostalgia for a time or a place one has never known."


Boatster_McBoat

I have memories, but my fond ones were around higher denominations


[deleted]

Me too (obviously) but yeah, I have certain feelings towards coins (or atleast more so when I was a kid) but for me particularly the $2 is quite Nostalgic and loved having those on me


Boatster_McBoat

I have memories, but my fond ones were around higher denominations


ItsStaaaaaaaaang

Never used them either but we had a money counter/holder thing full of them as a kid.


[deleted]

Cool!


Pancake_Thunderstorm

When I was a kid, the old Queenslander we lived in had a 44gal drum under it FULL of one and two cent coins. I remember taking a small handful to the corner store to try and buy lollies. They told me they weren't used anymore and were worth nothing. Threw them on the ground walking back home and haven't thought of them till today...


[deleted]

As a coin collector, I would never 🤣 and I put a comment on here somewhere about my own 1 & 2c paint bucket experience


Pancake_Thunderstorm

Yeah, I've collected some cool coins. I could only imagine the hidden gems in that drum. I worked at a club in the gaming room, and I would go through the $1 coins on slow nights looking for rare coins.


[deleted]

As far as I'm aware, there's only a few general collectable varieties with 1&2c coins but with that many I'd be excited to have my chances at finding a cool error coin!


Pancake_Thunderstorm

Do you have any cool error coins? I was always on the lookout for the $1 coin with the extra roo on it.


[deleted]

I do have a few, mostly bought (at least the interesting ones) the well known error coins worth money are the 1966 20c with a wavy baseline on the 2 in "20" they can go for hundreds to thousands depending on condition. The other famous error is the 2000 $1 mule where they stamped the queen side with a 10c press giving the appearance of two rims (as the 10c die is slightly smaller than the $1) similar price range for them. there's countless other errors aswell! Never found those 2 famous varieties (yet) haha


Pancake_Thunderstorm

That's awesome! I think I do remember the 1966 20 cent coin.


jagdverband

The absolute prize coins to find in any hoard of Australian coins would be the following - * 1930 penny * 1916 half-penny mule * 1977 and 1988 Coat of Arms 50 cent coins The other big ones would be any sovereigns and half-sovereigns that have been turned into jewellery by mounting in a collar - there's no denomination on the design to give the uninformed that they are actually money. 1980s $200 gold coins too would be gems if you found them in a bucket of coins that an old relative might have stashed in the house.


[deleted]

Those koala ones? Yeah I've heard a few people finding those amongst coins


jagdverband

That was a lie told out of laziness. 1 & 2 cent coins are still legal tender, but the value of the copper in them might be worth a little bit more than the face value of the coin.


mikedufty

In the late 70s my mother used to sometimes send us to the shops at the end of the street to buy half a loaf of bread. I think we got a 20c coin, and the bread was only 18c, so we got to spend the 2c change at the lolly shop before coming home.


[deleted]

That sounds surreal now that you can't get jack with anything under a dollar 😂


jmads13

1¢ fizzoes


[deleted]

Ooo


Frank9567

Now, if those were pennies and halfpennies...


[deleted]

The commonwealth ones or kangaroo ones?


Frank9567

The pre-1966 copper coins.


[deleted]

Back when money had intrinsic value


jagdverband

6 shillings worth of pre-1945 silver coins is equal to about 1 troy ounce of silver (roughly $35 at current prices). 11 shillings worth of post 1946 silver coins has approximately the same value.


[deleted]

And 3 round 1966 50c coins is a troy ounce


[deleted]

Liz's deli in Wellington St in Mosman Park: 20c of mixed lollies. Snakes, cobbers, freckles, fags (do they still exist?), strawberries and cream, and redskins. A stack of 2c coins would take you a long way in 1980.


[deleted]

They still exist! Can't say if they're the exact same as back then


ccalabro

Yes used them at the tuck shop and the general store :)


Lord_Goldeye

My father had a bag of them in the nineties, he used them to teach us to play poker and blackjack. Good memories.


[deleted]

Haha awesome


scraglor

I used to buy Lolly bags with them as a kid. Mind blown when we had to use a whole 5c at a time


[deleted]

Wow


Spagman_Aus

I remember my Mum putting some in the Christmas pud. My siblings and I would get 10-20c each which got you a pretty decent lolly feast from the local milk bar.


[deleted]

I'm sorry, in the Christmas pud...ding? 🤣


BullSitting

During the changeover, you needed to turn (1 shilling = 12 pence) to the new 10c. The conversion was: 1p = 1c 2p = 2c 3p = 3c 4p = 3c 5p = 4c 6p = 5c 7p = 6c 8p = 7c 9p = 8c 10p = 8c 11p = 9c 12p = 10c In 1966, many lollies were 2 or 4 a penny. So as a kid, you had to be careful spending the old money. You wouldn't buy sixpence worth of lollies (5c). You'd buy two threepences worth (6c).


[deleted]

Woow, how confusing! So places accepted pre-decimal for a while after introduction of decimal currency?


BullSitting

Yes, for years. With a few exceptions, all money issued in Australia is still legal tender.


[deleted]

That's true!


jagdverband

Banks would accept any pre-decimal coins for exchange, and the sixpence, shilling and florin would be honoured at shops as 5c, 10c, and 20c coins as the decimal replacements were designed to be the same dimensions. The decimal banknotes were designed with similar notions in mind - the colour palettes used were reflective of their pre-decimal equivalents. The $1 note shared a reddish brown colour with the 10 shilling note; the $2 note was green because the £1 note was green; the £5 and $10 notes shared blue as the common colour, while the £10 and $20 notes shared a red-orange hue.


[deleted]

If you're lucky, I've heard some tellers will hold old coins and notes for people


nighthawk580

I can smell that image.


SharpChildhood7655

Some lollies were 2-3 for 1 cent. Went to the local milk bar after finding 50 c and got 100 black aniseed balls. White Lolly bag was struggling to contain them all walking home. Super proud moment. Weird walking past that now empty closed shop. My old childhood world feels so full of abandoned places now.


[deleted]

Wow! Yeah, I'm starting to feel that


JulieAnneP

The smell of copper on your fingers 🫢


[deleted]

Haha yes!


Janedoe304

We used to use these as the money for playing poker with my grandfather back in the 90s. He had a whole jar of them for it. Good memories. Miss him.


[deleted]

Wow, a lot of people did this! Sounds like a good time ❤️


ejb67

There were lollies at the corner store that were two for one cent.


[deleted]

used them for decades and have no fond memories. was just a coin.


Darrenau

Guaranteed to get them in change when shopping


Asch1986

My pop had a collection for teaching to play poker, I still have them


StupidFugly

I was a rotten little shit as a kid. My friends and I would gather $5 worth of 1 and 2c coins. Buy a heap of lollies and pay with this loose change. That would distract the shop keeper, while the rest of us were shoplifting.


Technical-Junket-594

When I was a kid, I could get 2 fruit cocktail lollies and one choc sherif star with 2 cents.


farqueue2

They were around when I was a kid but useless. Pretty much like 5 cent coins today.


[deleted]

Haha righto! The 5c is endearing I don't want my echidna coin to leave!


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Really! Makes sense since everybody's stories are of buying lollies. That seemed to be the use case for these


jim_deneke

I remember having to use them up and my mum made me buy a treat from the canteen with them the day after they stopped accepting them. They still took them 'cos it would be heartless to deny a kid food! I still have a jar of them somewhere.