2025 was only a few hours old when it brought “lucky” 25-year-old Daniella Vido something she’d always wanted — the chance to strike the world’s first coin for the new year. 

The lifelong coin enthusiast’s parents first began collecting coins when she was a baby, and she’s now continued the tradition herself as an adult. 

She estimates she now has hundreds of coins at home.

This year was only the second time Ms Vido had entered into the ballot, but visiting the Royal Australian Mint on New Year’s Day had long been a staple of her childhood. 

The Canberra local was this year among a crowd of more than 300 people who forwent the late night revelry of New Year’s Eve in favour of an early morning wake up and a visit to the Royal Australian Mint. 

They were all there to partake in what’s become a hallowed tradition for numismatists, otherwise known as coin collectors, to try and get their hands on the first coin of the year. 

Many had travelled from as far afield as Melbourne, Brisbane and regional New South Wales to be there for the occasion, and some had even backed up a visit to the Mint from the night before, where they’d tried to secure one of the last coins to be minted for the year. 

In years gone by, punters would queue for days for the chance to be the first in line at the Mint. 

But things are now done in a much more orderly fashion, with hardly any queuing at all. 

Instead, people arrived at the Mint from 7am to enter their name in a ballot. 

Everyone who arrived got a spot in that raffle, which was then drawn just an hour later. 

Along with Ms Vido, 99 others got the chance to get their hands on one of the certified first 100 coins for the year. 

But of course, there was only one winner. 

For Ms Vido, coin collecting is a true passion. 

“I think it’s really cool to see the designs,” she explained. 

2025’s coin celebrates 60 years of the Mint and the ‘Minties’

Every year, the Mint bestows a new theme on the collectible coins.

This year, they commemorate 60 years of the Royal Australian Mint itself, the architecture of the building, the robots and the machines which operate out of it, the workers (affectionately known as Minties) and of course the coin collectors themselves. 

The Mint’s director of museum education and visitor services Stuart Baines agreed things had changed for the institution over those six decades. 

But he said while the use of cash had declined, coins were still part of Australia’s “cultural currency”.

“They’re not just the things you hand over at the counter,” he said.

“I think when Kindles came out, people said books were dead. Books are not dead. I don’t think coins will die either.”

On the day, the new coins cost only $3 to mint, but hold enormous significance for collectors.

And while they can eventually fetch large sums depending on the popularity of the collection, Ms Vido is one person who won’t be getting rid of hers anytime soon.