The 1943-D Threepence was struck at the Denver Mint with a
mintage
of 16,000,000. In the same year an additional 8,000,000 pieces were struck at the San Francisco
Mint and another 24,912,000 pieces at the Melbourne Mint
. The Denver Mint variety feature a small 'D' mint-mark located under
the right-most ribbon on the reverse. This type is available into surprisingly
high grade with PCGS population reports showing over sixty examples in MS66. Its abundance in mint-state is primarily due
to the number of mint rolls and mint bags that have surfaced out of the United States. Collectors
would do well targeting a minimum grade of MS65 which can be quite easily obtained under $100 but finding anything graded
higher can prove challenging.
Denver 'D' mint-mark on a 1943-D Threepence.
The very large
mintage
of threepence in 1943 was a response against a major shortage of both silver and copper coinage. One of the key reasons
for this shortage was the mass arrival of United States soldiers into Australia from the Middle East theatre. These troops,
along with a general increase in public spending, created an unprecedented demand for coinage. The Melbourne and Perth Mint simply could not make supply match demand so a deal was struck with
the United States. Under President Roosevelt's Lend-Lease Policy the United States agreed to provide Australia with a substantial
quantity of silver coins. Australia guaranteed to then return an equal amount of silver after the war.
President Theodore Roosevelt had created the extensive Lend-Lease Policy in 1941 as a way to assist allied forces during
the Second World War. The program allowed the United States to provide war materials including but not limited to ammunition,
aeroplanes, and food that could then be repaid for "...in kind or property, or any other direct or indirect benefit which the President deems satisfactory."
The program proved essential to the allied war effort with the total value of the aid reaching $49,100,000,000.
(Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2017)
United States Secretary of State and representatives from Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain signing
Lend-Lease agreements.
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