Coins much more than monetary game for club treasurer

Hans van Zwol has been collecting coins since he was 12 years old in Holland.

It’s the history that interests him, not the value, and this love for unique coins has travelled with him across the globe.

After about 40 years with the South West District Coin Club, 13 of them as its treasurer, Mr van Zwol is stepping down to move to Perth.

Mr van Zwol was born in Rotterdam during World War II and moved to Canada with his family in 1960, before landing in Bunbury in 1983.

“I started collecting at 12 when my dad’s brother, who travelled the world, gave me a bag of coins when he came back to Holland,” he said.

I became interested in foreign coins and collected more than 10,000 from 150 countries while I was in Canada.

His focus changed to collecting coins specific to different provinces in the Netherlands, before eventually turning his collection to Australian coins.

In 1970, Mr van Zwol sold everything and started again.

“At one stage, I had a full set of Perth Mint Sovereigns from 1899 to 1932,” he said.

Not limited to coin tales, Mr van Zwol says at one stage he was a bus driver for Red Dog.

“I worked for Hamersley Iron for a while driving the shift bus in the afternoon and nights,” he said.

“Occasionally, Red Dog would be sat on the side of the road and come on the bus, sometimes he’d even sit next to me.”