| 2/12/11 | 1911 threepence | |
|
25/4/09 |
1944 & 1945 florins | |
|
20/4/09 |
1943 florin Added mintmark position variety | |
|
5/3/09 |
1909 florin - Updated narrative | |
|
1/12/04 |
Errors - added "wrong planchet" | |
|
22/8/04 |
Clipped planchet error | |
|
22/8/04 |
Overdates | |
|
13/6/04 |
1926-1931 counterfeit florins | |
|
17/12/03 |
1944-1948 pennies | |
|
9/7/03 |
1920 penny - updated again 15/7/03 | |
|
28/5/03 |
1934 sixpence |
Direct links to some important varieties:
1962 "double-nose" pennyDirect links to some other interesting topics:
1953 Melbourne penny "long 5, different 3"
1955 Perth penny with closely-spaced fives
1922/1 overdate threepence
1916 halfpenny mule
Early colonial coinage (Proclamation Coins)Contents of this web page:
Internment Camp tokens
The 1930 penny
Cleaning and preservation of coins
DedicationDedication
A short history of Australian Commonwealth coinage
The monetary system of Australia prior to 1966
General characteristics of Australian pre-decimal coins
Grading of Australian coins
Varieties and errors
Catalogue of Australian Commonwealth coins
The rarest circulation coins
Taxonomic nomenclature
Miscellaneous stuff
Bibliography
Other numismatic web pages
These web pages deal with Australian pre-decimal coinage which was issued from
1910 to 1964 by mints in London, Birmingham, Bombay, Melbourne, Sydney, Calcutta,
Denver, San Francisco and Perth. The coins of this era exhibit a wide range of die
variations and are of more than usual interest to the serious collector.
I would like to dedicate these pages to John Dean whose little book "The
1965 Australian Coin Varieties Catalogue" introduced me to the notion that
coins of a given denomination and year are not necessarily all alike.
History of Commonwealth coinage
Before federation, the British colonies on the Australian continent used a variety
of coinage, promissory notes and tokens as currency. Some gold coinage, sovereigns
and half-sovereigns, had been produced in the Royal Mint branches in Sydney and
Melbourne but from earliest times there had been a lack of small-denomination coins.
In 1898 the British government granted permission for the colonial governments of
New South Wales and Victoria to strike silver and bronze coins in the branch mints
of Sydney and Melbourne but it was not until well after federation that the decision
to proceed was announced. The local mints in Sydney and Melbourne had been employed
in the striking of gold sovereigns and half-sovereigns but were not prepared to
cope with the new currency and for the first few years Australian coins were ordered
from the Royal Mint in London.
With the outbreak of World War I the Royal Mint found itself unable to meet the
demand for Australian coinage in addition to its other commitments and in 1914 and
1915 some of the production was sub-contracted to the mint of Heaton & Sons
in Birmingham. By 1916 the Melbourne branch mint was equipped for the striking of
silver coins and so it assumed that task but bronze coins were struck in Calcutta
branch mint as well as at the Heaton mint. In 1919 the first pennies were struck
in Melbourne and the first halfpennies were struck in Sydney.
For more on the history of Australian currency, you might find something in web
pages of the Tasmanian Numismatic
Society, the Australian Numismatic
Society , the Royal Australian Mint
and the Perth Mint. Failing that, there
are historical notes in many Australian coin catalogues as well as my own notes
on the coinage of the Australian colonial settlements.
The monetary system of Australia prior to
the introduction of decimal currency
Before 1966 Australia used a monetary system directly inherited from Britain.
The principal currency unit was the pound (£) which was divided into twenty
shillings each comprising 12 pence. Monetary amounts less than a shilling were expressed
with the suffix 'd' so that threepence would be written 3d and fivepence halfpenny
would be written 5½d. For larger amounts, the denominations were separated
by virgules or slashes. "Fifteen and six" (meaning fifteen shillings and
six pence) was written as 15/6 but amounts comprising even shillings had a dash
in place of the zero so "one shilling" was written as 1/-rather than 1/0.
The principle was extended to larger amounts. For example, "Six pounds four
and twopence halfpenny" was written as £6/4/2½, "one pound
ten [shillings]" as £1/10/- and "Ten pounds" as £10/-/-
or simply £10. Finally, "two pounds and tenpence" would be written
as £2/-/10 and rarely, if ever, as £2/0/10.
Penny is singular regardless of usage. When talking about individual coins, the
plural is pennies but for monetary value, pence is the plural so two pennies have
a combined value of twopence. Penny amounts were always spoken and spelled as a
single word, "elevenpence" rather than "eleven pence". "Twopence"
was always pronounced "tuppence" and "threepence" as "throopence"
("oo" is as in "book"). Finally, "halfpenny" was never
pronounced as written but always as "haypnee" (and sometimes it was actually
written as "ha'penny").
General characteristics of Australian
pre-decimal coins
Compared with many other countries, Australian pre-decimal coins are somewhat
unusual in that the reverse is the more definitive side of the coin. For example,
all Australian Commonwealth coins have the date on the reverse whereas in the U.S.A.
the date is on the obverse. Australian coins are invariably packaged and displayed
with the reverse more prominent than the obverse. (The decimal coins in use since
1966 have the date on the obverse, diminishing the importance of the reverse side.)
It is extremely common for the obverse of Australian coins to show more wear
than the reverse, particularly on the silver coins. For this reason, you will often
see coins with grades such as F/VF and EF/aU whereas grades such as EF/VF are most
unusual.
The George V coins had high-relief designs and on uncirculated coins some parts
of the design were higher than the rim. This had two effects. Firstly, the higher
points wore quickly and the wear profile provides a wealth of grading markers. Secondly,
there was a tendency for the early coins to show "weak strikes" on certain
features. This is particularly noticeable on the pennies where the N in ONE is directly
behind the highest point of George V's effigy and on the early shillings and sixpences
where the headband of George's crown is often ill-defined. For the same reason,
the Federation Star above the shield on the reverse of the silver coins is often
somewhat flat. The effect is that some coins can appear worn, even though they are
uncirculated.
The grading of Australian coins follows standards somewhat different from those
of the U.S.A. which has adopted a numeric grading system. So far attempts to introduce
a parallel system in Australia have not been met with enthusiasm. For some views
on the matter check out the following links:
The Tasmanian Numismatist, May 1977Errors and Varieties
Klaus Ford's grading guidelines
One of the principal objectives of the minting process is to produce coins which
are identical for any given denomination and year. If coins were of random design
then there'd be no way to distinguish a forgery from a genuine coin and public confidence
would be undermined to the point where coins would be useless as a medium of exchange.
The cost of the raw materials is typically less than the face value of modern coins
and so anyone with access to those materials and the machinery to process them would
be able to issue tokens purporting to be coins. With uniform designs, the forger's
task is more difficult in that the official design must be replicated exactly; this
is something that mints do but which is not so easy for a forger to achieve.
Despite the objective of complete uniformity, variations do occur. From a numismatic
standpoint this is quite fortunate because a completely uniform currency is rather
boring.
Varieties can originate from just about any stage of the minting process but
can be divided into two groups, errors and die varieties.
Errors are the result of defects in planchets (blanks) or of misadventure during
the coining process. Most errors are filtered out by post-strike inspection but
occasionally an error coin gets missed and passes into circulation. Error coins
tend to be unique and many collectors value them for their rarity. Some
examples of errors are available for viewing.
Die varieties, as the name suggests, arise from differences in the dies used
to strike coins of a particular denomination and year. A common variation is the
addition of a mint mark to a basic design to designate a particular mint as the
source of a coin. Mint marks are small, do not really affect the overall design
and so do not diminish the mint's goal of uniformity. Other variations can be much
more subtle.
Some die varieties may be classified as errors and may arise during die or punch
preparation or during minting. The latter group includes die filling (where metal
from a planchet remains in an incuse portion of the die, lessening or obliterating
all or part of a relief feature in subsequent strikes), die breaks (where a relief
portion of a die breaks off, altering the shape of a feature in subsequent strikes)
and die cracks (where a die starts to disintegrate under the stress of repeated
strikes and creates an irregular, raised feature on subsequent strikes).
One example of an error occurring during die preparation is that of doubling.
Die and punch preparation for Commonwealth coinage typically requires multiple impressions
in the hobbing press and if the die or punch shifts slightly between strikes then
you can get the effect shown here on the obverse of this 1943
halfpenny.
There are many other faults which can occur. A die can be damaged during coining.
For example, if a blank fails to feed into the coining press, the obverse and reverse
dies can come into direct contact with each other. This is known as a die clash
and affects coins struck thereafter until the damaged die is retired. A hard inclusion
in a blank can damage the surface of a die, causing a "blob" or "egg"
on subsequent strikes.
Although the minting faults described above are technically errors, the fact
that the faults are faithfully reproduced on many coins elevates them to the status
of varieties, albeit minor ones.
Major die varieties arise from fundamental differences in the dies used to strike
coins. Sometimes there are different master dies used for the coins of a given year,
and sometimes there are variations in the working dies produced from any one master
die. Whatever the origin, die varieties are propogated onto thousands or millions
of coins. Unlike errors, die varieties represent systematic variations and are the
subject of considerable interest.
Much research on the master die varieties of Australian pre-decimal bronze coinage
has been undertaken by Paul Holland whose summary
article enumerating the obverse and reverse die pairings in Australian pennies
can be found in the library of the Australian Numismatic Society.
Variations in working dies most frequently arise when some minor feature such
as a mint mark is added by hand rather than go through the trouble of producing
a (derivative) master die. You might also like to check out my own observations
on the mintmark variations of the 1942 Perth penny
along with Paul Holland's explanation thereof.
I do not collect error coins but that is not to say that I dismiss errors as
in any way unworthy of collection. The collection and study of error coins is simply
a somewhat different endeavour from that which I have undertaken. For the variety
enthusiast there is much to be learned from a study of error coins. The two fields
overlap to a considerable degree and a study of errors yields much insight into
the minting process.
Die variations and their importance
The following lists die varieties in order of decreasing importance. The ranking
represents my own opinion so feel free to disagree.
|
Master die type |
A change in master die type represents a variation in the design of a coin. Sometimes
the design change is really obvious, such as the shift from lettered reverse to
the kangaroo reverse on the 1939 halfpenny. Other variations may be much more subtle,
such as the London and Calcutta obverses on the George V pennies. | |
|
Mint mark |
Identifies the mint at which a coin was struck. Often this is the sole distinguishing
feature. | |
|
Overdate |
Coin struck with a die bearing traces of an earlier date. (See
separate discussion.) | |
|
Date numeral shape and/or position |
A very common practice in die preparation was to use a partial-date working punch
to make coining dies to which the remaining numeral(s) were added by hand. For small
mintages this was considered more practical than making a derivative master die
and then a new working punch. The shape of a numeral may vary depending on which
particular tool the engraver used and the position of the hand-punched feature on
every working die is likely to be slightly different from its peers although the
differences may be microscopic. Collectors and numismatists have tended to be dismissive
of these variations but in my opinion they are important. Conceivably, a diligent
collector with the means to distinguish these slight variations could identify each
working die and associate any given coin with a particular die. | |
|
Mint mark position |
Mint marks were frequently added by hand to working dies and so are subject to the
same sorts of variation as for date numerals. | |
|
Re-entered features |
Sometimes a working die may be worn or weakly formed but not so badly as to justify
discarding it. The engraver may decide to enhance a letter or numeral by re-punching
it and sometimes traces of the old feature are visible. | |
|
Doubled (or tripled) dies |
When preparing a die from a puncheon in a hobbing press, more than one strike may
be necessary. Between strikes the die is removed from the press for annealing and
has to be realigned with the puncheon for the ensuing impression. The realignment
is done by hand and if it is not exact, traces of an earlier impression may be visible,
offset slightly from the later impression. Usually such dies are never put into
service but there have been a few instances where the fault has apparently been
unnoticed or ignored. The foregoing remarks apply to Australian Commonwealth and earlier coinage. The
modern, hydraulic hobbing press used at the Royal Australian Mint for today's coinage
can produce a die or punch in a single pressing. | |
|
Cracks |
The grain of the metal in die steel runs perpendicuar to the coining surface. While
this yields a die resistant to compressive deformation, there is a tendency for
the die to split. It is a bit like hitting the end of a piece of wood with a hammer.
Eventually the die may disintegrate altogether but meanwhile the crack produces
an irregular raised feature on hundreds or thousands of coins. Modern dies are made of sintered alloys with isotropic grain, less prone to cracking
even when used on the harder materials comprising modern coins. Nevertheless, cracks
can and do occur. | |
|
Fills |
Small features on dies such as mint marks and serifs can become filled with metal
from the coin blanks, thereby obliterating or diminishing part or all of the feature. | |
|
Blobs |
A hard impurity in a blank can dent the surface of a die and subsequent coins will
show a relief image of the offending speck. |
(The information formerly presented here has been expanded
and now comprises a separate web page.)
Australian Commonwealth coins were minted in seven denominations. The gold coins
listed here are not considered Commonwealth coins; they were actually British coins
minted in Australia.
GoldThe rarest circulation coins
£1 (sovereign) until 1931Silver
10/- (half sovereign) until 1918
5/- (crown) 1937 and 1938 onlyBronze
2/- (florin) from 1910 until 1963
1/- (shilling) from 1910 until 1963
6d (sixpence) from 1910 until 1963
3d (threepence) from 1910 until 1964
1d (penny) from 1911 until 1964
½d (halfpenny) from 1911 until 1964
The following table shows the rarest coins struck for circulation in Australia
between 1910 and 1964.
|
P20S-1C-/./ |
1920 London obverse penny with dot over lower scroll. 4 specimens known. |
|
H16C-2A |
1916 halfpenny with Indian quarter anna obverse. 5-7 specimens known. |
|
P31M-2A |
1931 penny with Calcutta obverse and London reverse. Often described as "Indian
die, dropped 1 variety". Fewer than 20 specimens known. |
|
T22M-2A-2/1 |
1922/1 overdate threepence. Fewer than 1000 specimens, mostly in low grades. |
|
P30M-2A |
1930 penny with Calcutta obverse. Roughly 1500 specimens in existence now. |
|
H23M-1A |
1923 halfpenny. Probably about 15000 coins minted. Most of the 1923 issue was struck
with dies dated 1922. Number in existence now is much smaller. |
A taxonomic nomenclature for Australian
pre-decimal Commonwealth coins
Throughout the catalogue some odd-looking notations appear such as in the
table just above. They're manifestations of an attempt to develop a simple, convenient,
catalogue-independent shorthand notation for Australian
Commonwealth coins which I offer for public scrutiny.
Under construction is a page speculating on the origin
of letter shape variations on the reverse legends of George V pennies. Remember
that this is not a finished work.
Finally ...
As far as possible I have relied on my own observations in the compilation of
these web pages. However I have learned much from the writings of others and have
been guided by their works. The following comprises both a bibliography and a list
of references.
Abbreviations:
JNAA: Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia
JANS: Journal of the Australian Numismatic Society
RANS: Report of the Australian Numismatic Society
|
1 |
John Dean, The 1965 Australian Coin Varities Catalogue, Hawthorn Press, Melbourne,
1964 | |
|
2 |
Robert L. Clarke, The Coins and Tokens of British Oceania (5th ed.), Malter-Westerfield,
San Clemente, 1971 | |
|
3 |
John Gartner, The Australian Coin Catalogue, Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1964 | |
|
4a |
Dion H. Skinner, Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Guide (4th ed.), Renniks
& Co, Unley, 1966 | |
|
4b |
Dion H. Skinner, Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Guide (10th ed.), Skinner
& Warnes, Salisbury Heights (South Australia), 1976 | |
|
5 |
Paul M. Holland, Australian Penny Varieties: A New Classification Scheme
in JANS, 1993 | |
|
6 |
W. J. Mullett, The Sydney Mint in JANS, 1993 | |
|
7 |
W. J. Mullett, Notes on Australian Pre-Decimal Coinage in JANS, 1994-1996 | |
|
8 |
Paul M. Holland, A Classification Scheme for Die Type Variations in Australian
Halfpennies in JANS, 1994-1996 | |
|
9 |
Paul M. Holland, Variation of Die Types of Australian Pennies 1937-1964 in
JNAA volume 8, 1995 | |
|
10 |
Paul M. Holland, Australian Penny Master Die Types in RANS volume
61 number 1, 1998 | |
|
11 |
Paul M. Holland, Master Die Types of Australian Halfpennies in JNAA
volume 9, 1998 | |
|
12 |
Paul M. Holland, Bronze Coinage at the Perth Mint 1951-1953: The Transition to
Working Die Production in JNAA volume 9, 1999 | |
|
13 |
Ian Pitt (editor), Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values (19th edition),
Renniks Publications, Sydney, 2000 | |
|
14 |
Greg McDonald, The Pocketbook Guide to Australian Coins and Banknotes, Seventh
Edition, McDonald Publishing, Lavington NSW, 2000 | |
|
15 |
S. J. Butlin, Foundations of the Australian Monetary System 1788-1851, Sydney
University Press, 1953 (reprinted 1968) | |
|
16 |
Bill Myatt & Tom Hanley, Australian Coins, Notes & Medals, Castle
Books, Netley (Adelaide), 1982 | |
|
17 |
Australian Coin Review, various issues from July 1965 onwards | |
|
18 |
Jeffrey Watson, Don Thomas and Jack Bennett, Heads I Win, Angus & Robertson,
Sydney, 1986 | |
|
19 |
C.E. Challis (editor), A New History of the Royal Mint, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1992 | |
|
20 |
W.J.D. Mira & W.J. Noble, The Holey Dollars of New South Wales, ANS and
Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, 1988 | |
|
21 |
Jose de Yriarte Oliva & Leopoldo L-C Sanchez, Catalogo de los Reales de a
Ocho Españoles (2a ed), Editorial Iber-Amer, Madrid, 1965 | |
|
22 |
William D. Craig, Coins of the World 1750-1850 (3rd ed), Western Pub. Co.,
Racine WI (USA), 1976 | |
|
23 |
Stewart McLeod, References to Money in Early New South Wales in JANS
1994-1996 | |
|
24 |
John Sharples, On Collecting Commonwealth Coins in JNAA volume 5,
1990 | |
|
25 |
John Sharples, Australian Coinage 1919-1924 in JNAA volume 1, 1985 | |
|
26 |
John Sharples, Penny Reverse Dies of George V in JNAA volume 6, 1992 | |
|
27 |
Vince Kelly, The Shadow, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1954 | |
|
28 |
Coleman P. Hyman, An account of the Coins, Coinages, and Currency of Australasia,
Charles Potter, Government Printer, Sydney, 1893 (Reprinted 1973 by John Drury,
Colchester) | |
|
29 |
Robert Chalmers, A History of Currency in the British Colonies, UK Stationery
Office, London, 1893 (Reprinted 1972 by John Drury, Colchester) | |
|
30 |
Sir John Craig, The Mint - A History of the London Mint from AD287 to 1948,
Cambridge University Press, 1853 | |
|
31 |
Paul Holland, The 1933/2 Overdate Penny in JNAAvolume 13, 2002 | |
|
32 |
Jon Saxton, The 1925 Shilling in JNAAvolume 14, 2004 | |
|
33 |
Jon Saxton, Small Change - Plasticine Numismatics in Australasian Coin
and Banknote Magazine, July 2003 | |
|
34 |
M. M . Archibald & M. R. Cowell (Editors), Metallurgy in Numismatics,
Royal Numismatic Society, London, 1993 | |
|
35 |
Other web pages dealing with numismatics
There are thousands of numismatic web pages and I make no attempt to list even
a small percentage of them. The ones I list here are a few that I have encountered
and which are vaguely relevant to Australian coins.
Copyright ©1999-2009 Triton Technologies International Ltd. All Rights Reserved.