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Recent Articles 9-Nov-2022

The Australian One Cent

Walter Eigner The Australian One Cent is a keenly collected series owing to its attractive design and relative affordability. It was first issued in 1966 and continued as a regular issue until 1991. Due to its popularity, the coin was re-issued in 2006, 2010, and 2016 as part of collector sets.
26-Aug-2021

Cleaning Coins

Walter Eigner Cleaning coins is one of the most divisive issues in coin collecting though most of the contention stems from a misunderstanding of the problems with cleaning coins. Dealers typically advise new collectors that cleaning will devalue their coins then they go ahead and happily sell cleaned coins.
22-Feb-2020

Rare Pre-Decimal Coins

Anna Fhaumnuaypol Pre-decimals are coins that everyone, whether you are a collector or just starting out, usually have in their collection which have the potential to truly worth a lot of money. It represents a very interesting look into the past since when it was first introduced in Australia in 1910.
25-Jan-2020

1942 and 1943 Bombay Mint Copper

Anna Fhaumnuaypol During wartime, the demand for pennies and half pennies increased immensely due to pay requirements of Australian and American forces within Australia. However, the availability of metals, especially copper and silver used for coins, was in shortage due to it being used for the war effort for munitions. Moreover, people were continuing to hoard silver and copper coins in money boxes for fear of instability resulting in banks running out of coins to function their day-to-day routine.
22-Nov-2019

Collecting Old Australian Coins

Walter Eigner Collecting old Australian coins provides a fascinating glimpse into Australia's history through its circulating coinage. While there is a general impression that old coins are too expensive for new collectors to collect that couldn't be further from the truth. For just a few dollars you could obtain a later year mint-state pre-decimal coin, and for less than the cost of a modern proof set you can purchase a George V (1911-1936) pre-decimal coin.
1-Nov-2019

The case for certified coins

Walter Eigner The debate on certified coins vs uncertified coins has been going on in Australia since PCGS first reached the mainstream Australian market back in 2008. While today most Australian coin collectors favour PCGS graded coins, a recent incident has reaffirmed the importance of and buying certified coins and valuing them first, especially when buying on-line.
5-Oct-2019

Valuing Old Coins

Walter Eigner By far the most common question we get asked is "what is my coin worth?" Perhaps you found a few old coins which is why you're here reading this article. Maybe you're a seasoned collector already looking to get more precise values for your coins than the printed catalogues can offer. Perhaps you're an investor looking to value your coin portfolio. This guide will cover all of that.
28-Sep-2019

The Silver of Edward VII

Walter Eigner Although Australia had been a nation since 1901, it wasn't until 1910 that her first official coins were produced. While the Melbourne mint was producing sovereigns and half sovereigns at the time, these were technically Imperial British coins. The first coins issued specifically for Australia were struck in silver and of the denominations threepence, sixpence, shilling, and florin. These featured the Australian Coat of Arms on the reverse and the crowed bust of King Edward VII on the obverse.
10-Sep-2019

Sydney Mint Half Sovereigns

Walter Eigner The discovery of gold in the colony New South Wales in 1851 prompted a surge of immigration among prospectors seeking wealth in the new colony. This lead to the production of half sovereigns in Sydney as of 1855. Only 3.3 million half sovereigns were produced from 1855 to 1869 resulting in individual years being very scarce and valuable. To add to this, the high bullion content of Sydney mint half sovereigns, which were alloyed with silver, compared with their British counterparts, which were alloyed with copper...
Next Page: Type I - Filleted Bust

Half Sovereigns of the Sydney Mint (1853 - 1869)

Introduction

The discovery of gold in the colony New South Wales in 1851 prompted a surge of immigration among prospectors seeking wealth in the new colony. While the lands were resource rich, the colony lacked the facilities to monetise the gold and the process in sending the gold to London for monetisation was slow and expensive. To help resolve this, on the 19th of Dececmber 1851 the Legislative Council of New South Wales petitioned Queen Victoria to establish a branch of the Royal Mint at Sydney RMINTCORREP. This would allow gold found in Australia to be issued into full and half sovereigns without having to be transported from the colony. The gold sovereigns and half sovereigns issued by the Sydney mint from 1855 to 1870 were not intended to be legal tender and as such were given a uniquely Australian design with AUSTRALIA stamped across the middle and SYDNEY MINT across the top - this was to differentiate them from the British sovereign RMINTCORREP - this however did not mean that the mint could not strike coins for Great Britain with proposals to produce Imperial copper coinage at the Sydney branch as early as 1865 COPPERREPORT and Imperial gold half sovereigns and sovereigns produced from 1871. The Sydney mint thus opened in 1855 in the rear of the Rum Hospital, situated on Macquarie Street in the Sydney CBD.

3.259 Million half sovereigns were struck in Sydney from May 1855 to 1869 RMINTREPORT and while this already yields a low average mintage of under 300,000 per year, their scarcity is further augmented through extremely low survival rates. Approximately 60 examples dated 1855 survival from the 21,000 mintage, a rate of about 1 in 350 - this design was limited to 1855-56 so the different design encouraged hoarding; indeed later years (1857-66) have survival rates of about 1 in 550. This leaves most years with survival rates from the mint hundreds to low thousands making them very scarce and highly collectible. The low survival rate is in part due in part to their role as a medium of exchange but also due to having a gold-silver alloy which meant that their intrinsic value was one penny per sovereign in excess of the Imperial sovereign, and thus were often sent to Great Britain to be melted. RECOIN

Mintage figures were poorly kept by the Royal Mint Sydney for this period, for example, as can be seen from figure MINTAGES, mintages were not reported for the years 1862, 1864 and 1866 while half sovereigns bearing these days were certainly struck, it is most likely that the counts for subsequent years included the missing figures with the 1866 dated pieces having been struck in 1867 and 1869.

Two distinct obverses were used for this type, the first being the Filleted Bust, or Type I Sydney Mint which features the bust of Queen Victoria with her hair tied into a filleted bun. The Type II or Wreathed Bust features the bust of Queen Victoria with her hair tied up with an oak wreath. The first type was struck from 1855 to 1856 while the second type from 1857 to 1869 though as mentioned above no pieces are dated after 1866. The Type II was also struck in 1855 and 1856 as patterns and a small number of 1855 dated Type II pieces were struck for circulation though these are extremely rare. Both obverses feature the legend: VICTORIA D. G. BRITANNIAR: REGINA F:D, Latin for Victoria, by the grade of God, Britain: Queen, Defender of the Faith.

Next Page: Type I - Filleted Bust