A COLLECTOR'S agent has launched a legal battle to recoup almost $200,000 spent on a stolen rare coin.

The Supreme Court battle centres on the provenance of a rare 1813 five shilling Australian "Holey Dollar" -- the first coin struck in Australia.

The coins were restamped from Spanish silver dollars and the centres punched out: those plugs, or dumps, were then used as coins worth 15 pence.

Coinworks Pty Ltd is suing Noble Numismatics Pty Ltd for refusing a refund once the theft of the coin was revealed.

Coinworks says it bid $186,000, on behalf of an unnamed customer, at an auction conducted by Noble at Dallas Brooks Hall in July 2007.

It says a 15 per cent buyers' premium, GST and a 4 per cent commission for Coinworks took the total cost of the coin to $225,375.60.

Coinworks says that in January last year an employee discovered the coin had been stolen from the Money Museum of the American Numismatic Association in early 2007.

Coinworks says the US attorney in the district of Delaware had confirmed a man named Wyatt Yeager had pleaded guilty to theft and had provided $200,000 in restitution.

After giving its customer a refund for the coin, which was returned to the ANA, the company then sought reimbursement of $216,690 from Noble. But Coinworks says Noble has failed, or refused, to refund the sale price less $US50,000 received from ANA as restitution.

To read the complete article, see:'Holey' war over rare coin(www.news.com.au/breaking-news/holey-war-over-rare-coin/story-e6frfkp9-1226621148621)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:STOLEN HOLEY DOLLAR RECOVERED BY ANA(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n46a14.html)