[Brad Lockyer]

Australia’s first batch of 3.5 million $1 coins bearing the likeness of King Charles III have been distributed to banks across the nation.

The coins differ from those featuring the late Queen Elizabeth II in that King Charles faces the left-hand side of the coin while his mother faced right. It continues a tradition of British monarchs being depicted facing the opposite direction to their predecessors on Commonwealth coins.

The release has seen some keen collectors lining up outside banks to be among the first to secure the new coins. King Charles will only appear on $1 coins for now, with other denominations expected to be rolled out over the next year as demand dictates.

Coin expert Matt Thompson told Yahoo Finance rolls of the coins are already appearing for sale online for many times their face value. But he warned collectors against rushing to buy the coins at inflated prices.

“The total mintage is 10 million [over time]. For comparison, the new $2 coin set has a mintage of 35,000. So they’ll be very accessible for collectors, both casual and dedicated,” he said.

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