? Coming from a mintage of 64,013, combined with the Jubilee Head types, the 1887 Melbourne is one of the scarcest half sovereigns ever issued. It is estimated that a total of around 600 examples remain today making it extremely difficult to source at or above AU. It is however not quite as scarce as is generally considered with the 1881 Melbourne, and possibly the 1886 Melbourne, being slightly scarcer in better grades and the 1885 Melbourne being scarcer overall. The type can be differentiated ...
? In 1872, the newly established Melbourne Mint joined the Sydney Mint in striking full and half sovereigns, but it was not until 1899 that the Perth branch of the Royal Mint was opened to accommodate for gold deposits found in Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie just as the Melbourne Mint had been established to accommodate Victoria's ample gold resources. The Perth Mint had a strong advocate in Sir John Forrest, the first Premier of Western Australia . The Perth Mint ...
? The Little Dinkums coin collection lovingly celebrates Australia's favourite creatures. The Royal Australian Mint had commissioned artist Ben Hutchings to design six characters for a coin collection named Little Dinkums. They were Petey Platypus, Kip Koala, Kato Cockatoo, Tinga the Tasmanian Tiger, LilyPilly Lizard and finally Binny Bilby. This coin was struck in Gold at a size of just 14mm.The reverse of this coin, designed by the Royal Australian Mint has the cartoon character Petey Platypus ...
? The George V sovereign series was struck from 1911 to 1931 with the design changing from 1928 to 1929 with the two types being known as the Large Head and Small Head design respectively. Large Head Design Small Head Design The issue was struck in Australia at the Sydney, Melbourne and Perth mints up to 1926 and only the Melbourne and Perth mints thereafter. The mint of manufacture can be determined by the letter S, M or P on the exergue ...
? The 1962 sixpence is the most common date in the series with a mintage just short of 45 million. While the number of bank rolls the date make it an easy coin to acquire in mint state, the notoriously poor reverse strikes make this coin somewhat difficult to acquire above MS65 with examples in MS67 being very scarce. The number of coins struck of a particular designation The tails side of the coin