$77m of small change vanishes

New Zealanders may be careful with their money but we appear to have lost, misplaced or hoarded about 700 million silver coins during the past 40 years, possibly valued at about $77 million.

About 150 million of New Zealand's old-style 50, 20, and 10 cent coins have found their way back to the Reserve Bank following the release of the newer models on July 31, and about the same number again are expected in the coming months.

Not so clear, however, is what became of about 700 million coins issued since the country went metric in 1967. Reserve Bank communications adviser Anthea Black said the 150 million coins returned so far weighed about 1000 tonnes.

"Since 1967 we have issued one billion (silver) coins but we expect the recovery to be about 2000 tonnes."

As to what happened to the other 700 million or so coins?

"Who knows? Lost. Taken overseas. It's really hard for us to ascertain exactly what is out there at the moment but our expectation is we'll get about a third back."

Miss Black said over the course of 40 years, the missing coins were unlikely to have had much impact.

A rough calculation shows that with 581 million 5 cent coins issued, 240 million 10 cents, 157 million 20 cents, and 59 million 50 cents, the missing 700 million coins could have a value of up to $77 million.

About 84 million new and smaller coins have been dispatched to banks and 230 million coins were ordered in total - about a two-year supply.

Miss Black said it was important that people empty their hoards of old coins and cash them in. "Men are the culprits ... you guys that come and empty your pockets at the end of the day then don't put them back into circulation whereas women - they tend to keep them in their wallets."

There had been a few teething problems with the new coins - notably some Canadian 5 cent coins being discovered in New Plymouth in rolls of New Zealand 20 cent coins. Miss Black said the new coins were minted in Canada and the incident was believed to be isolated.

She said reports of some retailers refusing the old currency as soon as the new versions were released did not appear to have become widespread.

- NZPA