The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) mounted Australian 1969 Yarralumla 50 cent coin is the only Philatelic Numismatic Cover (PNC) type to be defined as such by PCGS. Widely regarded as Australia's first genuine PNC, the Yarralumla PNC holds a special place in Australian coin history due to its refreshed dodecagon 50 cent design, which was altered from the round 1966 50 cent. Produced in collaboration with the Royal Australian Mint and Nuphil Associates Limited of Christchurch, New Zealand; the Yarralumla PNC is a rare and significant specimen.

Nuphil Associates Limited

Nuphil Associates Limited of Christchurch New Zealand, was owned and operated by Varian J. Wilson and William R. Dobson who went by the name Ray Dobson. Together they headed the release of uncirculated and proof PNC covers containing various coins and tokens from Australia and New Zealand.

Online business records indicate Nuphil Associates Ltd was incorporated on 11 December 1967 and dissolved on 20 February 1986. From what can be determined through indefinite online research, Varian and Ray released Nuphil covers from 1967 to 1974; commencing with uncirculated PNC editions commemorating the July 10, 1967 New Zealand currency decimal changeover.

Interestingly there does appear to be a 2006 uncirculated set of 4 PNC covers, each numbered up to 90, produced under the Nuphil Associates name. If these are genuine Ray would have produced these since Varian had apparently passed away by this time. The ostensible 2006 release coincides with the time frame of communication posted online (reiterated below); reportedly received from Ray, from a request of information about the release of the 1969 Yarralumla 50 cent PNC.

Information posted to an online obituary communicates that Ray passed away on the 20^th of September 2021 in Christchurch.

Hutt Commemoratives Limited

Varian also produced coin and token PNC editions in uncirculated and proof condition, as well as banknote PNC covers from 1970 to 1976; through what was presumably his own company Hutt Commemoratives Limited, although the finer details on this are also limited. These covers celebrated various Achievements connected to countries and territories in the Pacific region such as Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Western Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands.

Following the widespread numismatic attention the releases received, the covers became widely known as Hutt PNCs, or in the case of Varian's other joint venture Nuphil and Hutt.

SP PCGS Grading

For those wondering what the SP grading by PCGS stands for it - it is an abbreviation for the term Specimen. In context of the Yarralumla 50 cent PNC coin; the official definition from PCGS of what they consider a Specimen as, is rather undefined. They define SP as “Special coins struck at the Mint from 1792-1816 that display many characteristics of the later Proof coinage. Prior to 1817, the minting equipment and technology was limited, so these coins do not have the "watery" surfaces of later Proofs nor the evenness of strike of the close collar Proofs.” Although this coin was not produced between the quoted dates, PCGS are essentially defining the SP grade as having a finish unlike Mint State, or Proof coins.

A Mint State or MS graded coin is defined by PCGS as "The numerical grades MS-60 through MS-70, used to denote a business strike coin that never has been in circulation. A Mint State coin can range from one that is covered with marks (MS-60) to a flawless example (MS-70)."

While a Proof or PR graded coin is defined by PCGS as "A coin usually struck from a specially prepared coin die on a specially prepared planchet. Proofs are usually given more than one blow from the dies and are usually struck with presses operating at slower speeds and higher striking pressure. Because of this extra care, Proofs usually exhibit much sharper detail than regular, or business, strikes. PCGS recognizes Proofs (PR) as those struck in 1817 and later."

Yarralumla PNC Information

Communication included below which was posted on a now unreachable coin website, purportedly from a RAM mint official and Ray Dobson; provides further insight into the production of the 1969 Yarralumla 50 cent PNC.

Mint Employee, Conversations with Phil Graney and Tony Jordan, Late 2004

“A private firm called Nuphil Associates cut a deal with the RAM and ordered Specimen 50c coins for a Postal Numismatic Cover. Since the mint did not have the capacity to manufacture this type of coin, Nuphil assisted financially for the specialist press to be bought and installed at the mint.

Nuphil made what is known as the "Yarralumla Covers". One story has it that the Yarralumla Post Office was chosen simply because it was convenient to the mint when they picked up the coins.

Here we have 2 different versions of events, one version is that the Mint struck more coins than Nuphil's original order of 1500 coins, the other is Nuphil ordered 2000 and then only had 1650 envelopes, either way the end result was an excess number of coins.

According to a mint employee, some of the remaining coins were sold to Sydney dealers with the rest simply placed into the till of the Mint Shop to be used as common change. Some employees did swap their pocket change to rescue a few of these coins.”

Ray Dobson Correspondence Received Jan - Feb 2006, Founding Member Nuphil Associates Ltd

“I searched on Google for info regarding the above coins and found your site about the 1969 Specimen strikes.

At that time I was a partner in Nuphil Associates Ltd of Christchurch, NZ. There were only 2 of us in the company, Varian J. Wilson and myself, W. Ray Dobson. Varian did the actual work in producing the covers in Canberra with the help of Ray Whelan of Healesville, Vic.

..........I could take a day or 2 to put my thoughts in order and send you a full account and include a copy of our Newsletter re these covers and a scan of one of my covers.

Regards,
Ray Dobson.

PS. I am 80 now so like to take my time over things. Varian died some years ago.
WRD. [William Ray Dobson]”

Additional Communication from Ray Dobson

“I have reprinted Nuphil's Newsletter #1 which deals with this cover and have added colour scans of both sides of one of my covers (#0001) together with some more about Nuphil and the cover.

You may use this in any way you like and publish my name, email and postal addresses, phone #, etc, etc.

One of these covers was sold in Downie's auction # 288 (Item #1014). They said the issue was limited to 1,200 examples.

Just some additional info about the above. I was looking through some very old Nuphil Associates Ltd material when I found an advert we had placed in Lynn's Stamp Weekly in the US sometime in 1970.

It seems we had prepared 1,330 covers so there must have been at least that number of 1969 50c Specimen coins.

We offered them at $US7.50 each! In 1970 the exchange rate was $Aust1.00 = $US1.11 so they probably sold at $7.00 in Australia.”

Further Correspondence from Ray Dobson Received May 2006.

“In 1969 a partner, Varian j. Wilson, in a Christchurch, New Zealand firm, Nuphil Associates Ltd, arranged with the RAM, Canberra to prepare a Philatelic Numismatic Cover (PNC) containing the new 50c coin to be released that year. On arrival at the Mint Varian found that, in order to fill his order for the coins, a special striking of the coins had been made and were available for him to prepare the covers. However, he was not permitted to take the coins away from the Mint until the official release date but was given facilities to prepare the covers there. This he, with the assistance of a Victorian coin-dealer, Ray Whelan of Healesville, did over a number of days working while the Mint was open.

On 1st September, 1969, they took the covers to the Yarralumla Post Office for postmarking. They were then delivered to Nuphil Associates Ltd, PO Box 962, Canberra City, where they were backstamped on the same date.

Nuphil Associates Ltd was a very small company consisting of myself, W. Ray Dobson, and Varian J. Wilson. Varian was a semi-retired clinical psychologist so was in a position to travel while I had a busy pharmacy to run so was somewhat tied. Varian and I had met through our mutual interest in coin collecting and had set up our company to prepare PNCs to mark New Zealand's change to decimal currency in 1967. We had established a fiendly relationship with a Victorian coin dealer, Ray Whelan, of Healesville who assisted Varian in preparing the covers in Canberra and would be responsible for the sale of them in Australia.

I regret I am unable to throw any light on the question of how many coins were struck in the special striking but, from an advert we placed in a US publication, Lynn's Stamp News, in 1969 or 1970 it seems we prepared 1,330 covers. These were priced at $US7.50 each which would equate to about $Aust7.00 at that time. That there was an excess of coins over covers produced I do know as, on his return, Varian gave me 6 of the coins in unstamped and unpostmarked covers, which I have since sold. He also gave me 4 of the covers (#s 0001, 0089, 0090, 0091) which I still have today.

Two points I would like to mention. It has been suggested that we (Nuphil Associates Ltd) financially assisted the RAM to install a specialist press to strike the Specimen coins. This cannot be true as we were cash-strapped to the extent we had difficulty in paying for Varian's trip to Canberra and buying the coins and certainly had nothing left over. There is a faint possibility that Ray Whelan financed this but I have no recollection of any such deal. It has also been suggested that mounting the coins in card and covering them in plastic has caused them to lose their original bright, lustrous state and turn a dull, steel grey. This could well be true as the coins in my covers are all in this dull state and, as suggested, "not very appealing at all". What the coins were like when I received them in 1969 I cannot now remember.

I have not heard of the covers being referred to as the "Yarralumla Covers" but can well imagine Varian posting them there if it was the most convenient post office to the RAM. We referred to them as "Nu27" as they were the 27th cover we had produced The covers were originally sold mainly in Australia and the US, very few in New Zealand.”

Summary

If this communication posted above is genuine and the information included in it is accurate, we can conclude that there were at least 1’330 of the covers produced with between 1’500 and 2’000 specimen coins produced.

Regardless, the mysterious history of this PNC, the evidently low production of the specimen coins, and unique PCGS grading; means there is great historical significance surrounding the Yarralumla 50 cent PNC and coin.

Only 5 of these coins have been graded in SP67, 21 in SP66, 11 in SP65, 6 in SP64, and 1 in SP62, which brings the total graded PCGS population to 44.

Release: 1969
Mintage: 2'000

RESOURCES

CompaniesNZ 15/01/2022: NUPHIL ASSOCIATES LIMITED - CHRISTCHURCH - NEW ZEALAND - https://www.companiesnz.com/company/130265/nuphil-associates-limited

New Zealand - 2006 - Nuphil PNC Set 15/01/2022: Oceanic Mint - https://shop.oceanicmint.com/new-zealand-2006-nuphil-pnc-set/

HonourThem 15/01/2022: DOBSON, William Ray - https://honourthem.com/obituaries/dobson-william-ray/

Professional Coin Grading Services 15/01/2022: PCGS Grading Standards - https://www.pcgs.com/grades

The Wayback Machine 22/03/2009: Australian Fifty Cent Coins (Cruzi’s Coins) - https://web.archive.org/web/20090322232133/http://www.cruzis-coins.com/50c/50notes.html

Last Updated: 05/02/2022