? Following the discovery of gold in Sydney, sovereigns were minted at the Sydney Mint from 1855 and continued until 1916. Prior to the discovery of gold, Australian colonies were reliant upon coins minted in Great Britain as these were the only coins recognised as having legal tender status . The 1850s Gold Rush affected not only the mintage of coins but also sudden population growth, particularly in Victoria. In turn, this demanded sudden developments in government administration ...
?Image from: A.H. Baldwin & Sons Ltd . Victoria, Sovereign, 1852, Roman letter I in date for figure 1, raised die flaw in I, second larger young head left. 'Auction 73 8 May 2012'. Retrieved from https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=290&lot=64
? This 20 cent coin was released for general circulation by the Royal Australian Mint in 2001 and commemorates cricketing icon, Sir Donald Bradman. The reverse of this coin was designed by Vladimir Gottwald and features a central image of Bradman in one of his recognisable batting positions. This image is within a circular border and within the outer ring is the legend
? The Kangaroo design continued into this type, however, after the independence of India in late 1947, IND IMP needed to be omitted from the obverse legend; this did not occur until 1949. The obverse still features an uncrowned bust of King George VI facing to the left with the modified legend GEORGIVS VI D : G : BR : OMN : REX FIDEI DEF. and was used up until the end of George VI's reign in 1952. The series is relatively easy to complete, however, the Perth mint issues, the 1950-Y, ...
? The 1914 half penny is one of the semi-key dates of the series though it does turn up mint state from time to time. Typical mint state examples range from MS63 to MS64 though the date gets quite scarce beyond that. The piece is also very rarely found with a significant amount of original mint brilliance. The date is usually well struck up and mint lustre comes in the form of an even cartwheel usually quite strong unless heavily toned. The 1914 half penny was struck at the Royal ...