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Australia George VI

1937 Proof Crown

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In addition to striking the new Kruger Gray designs, an interesting numismatic development started to unfold. The Melbourne mint was to strike proof coins for all denominations, available directly to collectors at one shilling above face value (Sharples, J, 1990) , starting in 1937 with the crown or five shillings piece. This was to continue into 1938 but was scrapped in 1939 with only the half penny being struck for the public that year due to the financial stress of the outbreak of World War II. The collector proof program would not awaken again until 1955. H. G. Williams, who was influential in starting the collector proof program, purchased 50 of the proof 1937 crowns however this was not sufficient to grant him a dealer discount and consequently did not purchase 1938 proof crowns the following year, accounting for their scarcity (Verheyen, T, V, 2009) . A total of 100 proof 1937 crowns were sold while only 18 proof 1938 crowns were sold with 6 being sold at a later date (Verheyen, T, V, 2009) .

As the 1937 proof crown was publicly available to collectors, despite the high issue price of 6/-, still in the midst of the great depression, many of them did find their way into circulation and thus the piece is often found with some circulation marks, in such cases their value is significantly less. In addition, it was common practice to clean coins from toning and as such the piece is often found with fine hairlines or in some cases silver polished, these would also be worth significantly less. Original examples have become very scarce in recent times which accounts for their strong recent appreciation in value. The 1937 proof strikes are best differentiated from business strikes via the clarity of detail. As early circulation strikes can display proof-like characteristics, this alone should not be used for identification. For example this circulation strike below displays semi-mirror fields and a lightly frosted relief even with the characteristic die polishing striations of proof die 2 indicating it was struck from the proof dies.

In addition proof strikes, unless circulated are generally free of contact marks unlike circulation issues which are notorious for them due to the harsh handling processes causing bagmarks. For more information on the 1937 crown, see the circulation issue - A uniface 1937 proof Crown is also known - In 1938 a proof Crown was also struck -