Half Sovereign

1879 is last year half sovereigns were struck before standardized designs were introduced by Australian mints, though the London mint continued to use varying designs from previous years in 1880 and the Melbourne mint issued 1882 Melbourne half sovereigns with a truncated bust (Learn more about the 1882-M Truncated Bust Half Sovereign). The design is similar to the 1877-1882 narrow ribbon issue from the Melbourne mint, however the

Obverse

The heads side of the coin

 

obverse relief is slightly more pronounced and some minor tilting of the portrait occurring.

From a low

Mintage

The number of coins struck of a particular designation

 

mintage of 94,000, it is estimated that around 750 pieces have survived though the date is very difficult to acquire in AU or better condition. The finest example that I've encountered was graded good EF and sold through the Reserve Bank sale in 2005 where it realised just over $10,000 against an estimate of $3,000 (Downies, 2005). This example was later auctioned off by Monetarium from the Quartermaster collection however was unsold (Monetarium, 2009).