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Australia Sydney Wreathed Bust

1860 Half Sovereign

Values

Sales History

Current listings

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The 1860 is the scarcest wreathed bust half sovereign after the enigmatic 1855 and the third scarcest Sydney Mint date overall. It is estimated that there are fewer than 250 pieces surviving, most of which have some form of damage making certified examples rare. There were four problem-free examples offered at the Reserve Bank of Australia Sale from a total of 20 1860s (Downies, 2005) . Prior to this, 1860s were extremely difficult to acquire though they did turn up in dealers' bullion piles from time to time prior to the popularity of the collecting Australian half sovereigns spreading. The date is available in mint state, though PCGS has not graded any at this level and it is extremely scarce in problem-free VF or better, with the finest example sold through the Reserve Bank of Australia sale grading aVF (Downies, 2005)

An 1860/5* overdate has been catalogued in some auctions but this is most likely a 6/6 re-punch or double die as the lack of any digit under the 0 rules out it being an overdate.