Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Malaysia 1971 1 sen nickel?

How much this rare coin worth? Have you ever heard about Malaysia 10 sen 1971 coin? Most of Malaysia coin collector or Malaysian knew that coin is rare and have a very high price among collector. How about Malaysia 1979 1 sen nickel coin? Only two of the coin is known to exist and this coin is more like a myth to collectors. Most collector including me never have seen that coin. If I have the opportunity to look at the coin, I will most probably take a picture with it. What about Malaysia 1971 1 sen nickel coin? Have you ever heard anything about it? There is no record about this coin in Steven Tan Standard catalog.
1 sen nickel

As weird as this coin might be, the story came to me at a very weird time to. I am playing Zynga Poker at 4am few days ago, a Facebook friend post a message in the chat box.

Bonden: "Pernah tengok duit Malaysia 1971 1 sen nickel?" (Have you seen Malaysia 1 sen nickel 1971 coin before?)

Me: "Duit nickel 1 sen? 1979 pun tak pernah tengok. Adakah?" (1 sen nickel coin? I never seen the 1979 coin. Is there any?).

I thought he is talking about 1979 1 sen coin. I read about it in a books but never saw it in real life and never saw any picture of it. That coin is more like a myth and legend. You heard about it but only a few have saw it in real life. Some Malaysia coins book author also don't stated about this coin. Most probably this author never saw that coin before. Normal 1 sen 1979 coin is made of copper-clad steel. Only two of the coin found so far made of nickel. the price is around RM2,500 for uncirculated (according to Steven Tan Standard catalog 18th edition-the price should be more since the book published in 2007).

Then Bonden explain it to me, he is talking about Malaysia 1 sen 1971 with nickel planchet. A planchet is a round metal disk that is ready to be struck as a coin. An older word for planchet is flan. They are also referred to as blanks. The owner of the coin show it when he meet Bonden collecting coins he buy from him. Abdullah, 49 years old from Johor Bahru is a rare and error coin collector. He has been keeping that coin for over 35 years. He got it from his brother who work in AIA Insurance in the 70's. His brother bought the coin from Bank Negara Malaysia employee. Abdullah started buy rare coins after he knew how much 1 sen 1979 nickel price.

Looking at the coin picture, there is a trace of copper near the denomination value. The coin look like it is coated with nickel or silver? (the shine is different from nickel). It is just my personal opinion looking at the coin from the picture given by bonden. I never saw the real coin itself. The probability of such coin exist is very low but mistake can happen with million of blanks during minting process. Some people says, Bank Negara Malaysia employee make the mistake happen to gain extra income from people who love to collect rare coins.

Abdullah said that this rare coin is not for sale. How much do you think this rare coin worth? five thousand ringgit for 1 sen nickel 1971 coin? Is it worth that much? Is this coin for real? Share your opinion in here. Some of you might have seen the real coin itself.