? The Type II one cent was issued from 1985 up until the retirement of the one cent series in 1991. It featured the new Raphael Maklouf portrait of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse , with the unchanged Stuart Devlin feather-tail glider design on the reverse. Devlin's initials can be found below the tip of marsupials tail . The type was struck exclusively at the Royal Australian mint in a bronze alloy, except in 1991 where an additional silver proof was issued as ...
? The 2013 Polar Animals Series is the Royal Australian Mint's fourth animal series, following the popular Ocean, Land and Sea series. The Polar Series encompasses six, uncirculated coins, each depicting different animals that can be found in some of the coldest places on Earth; a Polar Bear, Rockhopper Penguin, Humpback Whale, Walrus, Weddell Seal, and Atlantic Puffin. The series was periodically released in pairs throughout the year in specially designed cards. The Weddell ...
? The iconic first business strike half sovereigns struck at the Sydney Mint were dated 1855 and 1856. The 1855 is one of the key Australian rarities with considerable Australian and international demand. It is estimated that 50 to 60 examples survived the initial small mintage of 21,000 with most being heavily worn or otherwise damaged. A total of seven examples were found in the Reserve Bank holdings, auctioned off by Downies in 2005 with very few examples appearing ...
? 1879 is the last year that half sovereigns were struck before standardised designs were introduced by Australian mints, though the London Mint continued to use varying designs from previous years in 1880 and the Melbourne Mint issued 1882 Melbourne Half Sovereigns with a truncated bust. The design is similar to the 1877-1882 narrow ribbon issue from the Melbourne Mintbutthe obverse relief is slightly more pronounced with some minor tilting of the portrait.The issue was struck at the Sydney ...
? In 1916 the Calcutta mint struck its first half pennies for Australia and would continue to do so until the end of World War I in 1918. Australian coinage would not be struck again at an Indian mint until World War II. The Calcutta mint half pennies struck from 1916 to 1918 are identified by an I mintmark beneath the lower scroll on the reverse. I mintmark of a 1916 half penny The 1916-I is moderately scarce in top grades, especially if sought with original ...
