Digging up an australian penny from 1951

While clearing another small veggie patch for tomatoes and zucchini plants i noticed an old coin between the fresh soil. It was totally black with dirt, so i put it on the fence next to the patch to dry and eventually forgot about it. I remembered the next day, found the coin again, and started to wash off some dirt. It turned out to be a penny from 1951, with a kangaroo on one side and George VI on the other.

A little research revealed that the penny was in use until 1966, when Australia switched to a decimal currency. The particular penny is one of the 45,514 million coins minted in Melbourne (they ones from Melbourne don’t have a mintmark). The coin would fetch something between 50 cent and 13$, depending on the condition. Considering this particular coin, i might get a little less.