Collector wins lottery to mint the first coin of 2025

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Hundreds of coin enthusiasts gathered at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra this morning, but only one could win the prize of minting the new year's first coin.

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00:00In years gone by, coin collectors would camp out at the Royal Australian Mint for days,

00:06trying to get their hands on the highly sought-after first minted coin for the new year anywhere

00:11in the world.

00:12But this year was a much more orderly occasion, with a ballot opening around 7am and a winner,

00:17along with 99 runners-up, being picked an hour later to strike 2025's freshly minted

00:22coins here in Canberra.

00:25This year's winner was 25-year-old Daniela Vito from Canberra.

00:28A lifelong coin collector, this was only her second time entering the ballot.

00:32I think it's really cool to see the designs on them, they're all really special and unique,

00:37and it's something tangible as well that you can always look back on, it's a piece of history.

00:42In what's become an annual tradition, the collectible coins of the new year have a theme.

00:47This year it's a celebration of 60 years of the Royal Australian Mint.

00:51The architecture of the building, the robots and the workers, or the minties as they're

00:55affectionately known, and of course the coin collectors themselves.

00:59So it's looking at everyone who's contributed, right from the architect Richard Err who really

01:04wanted to create a functional and beautiful building, not just a factory, through to the

01:09robots and the machinery that we have, the card is actually a tribute to those.

01:12With the community of coin collectors or numismatists only growing, this event and others like it

01:18are only expected to become larger in coming years.

01:21For more information about the Royal Australian Mint, visit www.royalaustralianmint.com

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