Coin collectors join quest for gold

In the run-up to the Olympic Games millions of dollars have been spent going for gold, silver and bronze - coins that is.

Five million Sydney 2000 Olympic coins had been sold by the end of August, double the number sold to commemorate the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Mint officials said Olympic coin sales had doubled in the past 10 months to A$131 million ($72 million) and some limited edition series, such as the "Kangaroo and Grasstrees" and "The Journey Begins", were sold out.

The majority of the sales have been in Australia, where demand had exploded as the Games neared, Don Mackay-Coghill, chief executive officer of the Perth Mint said.

"People who purchased "The Journey Begins" have seen the coin's retail price treble on the secondary coin market since it sold out in August 1998 and the other coins that have sold out are also selling at a premium on the secondary market," Mackay-Coghill said.

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