The first run of sovereigns struck under George V's reign feature a large uncrowned bust of King George V facing towards the left. The long series, spanning from 1911 to 1928 can best be partitioned into two classes: 1911 to 1919 and 1920 to 1928. The first, a period of gold hoarding with the uncertainty of World War I and post-war Australia. The second, the roaring 20's, a period of strong consumption and limited need for wealth storage brought about by the re-patriation of the ANZACs. The former is characterised by high
Mintage
The number of coins struck of a particular designation
mintages and the latter, by lower
Mintage
The number of coins struck of a particular designation
mintages often paired with near completes meltdowns of some issues.
The Sydney
Mint
a facility that produces coins
mint produced sovereigns until its closure in 1926 though most issues from 1920 and on are generally very rare reflecting the declining gold available in Sydney in the 1920s. The Melbourne
Mint
a facility that produces coins
mint produced sovereigns in every year but none are known dated 1927. The Perth
Mint
a facility that produces coins
mint also produced sovereigns in every year.
While the Perth mint generally has the highest mintages, most of these sovereigns ended up in Australia and some actually circulated in Western Australia and were consequently melted upon the withdrawal of gold currency in 1929. Sovereigns minted at the other branches of the Royal mint were mostly sold overseas to pay of Australia's war debts
(Sterling & Currency, 2009) and numerous hoards have turned up, in particular the earlier Sydney years, which are often found in the higher
Mint state
A state of a coin that shows no signs of circulation
mint state grades.
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