The 1880 Sydney crenulated reverse half sovereign is a rare subset
of the 1880 which features a toothed or crenulated reverse
rimas opposed to the standard beaded type. It was struck at the Sydney mint as denoted by the S
mintmark
under the shield. One should be careful not to confuse the S with a 3 or 8
die
number
which were sometimes used by the Royal mint London.
This, crenulated reverse type
The Beaded reverse type
S mintmark indicating the coin was struck in Sydney
The 1880 Sydney with the crenulated reverse rim is the scarcer of
the two
varieties
though at the AU level or in
mint state
there are a disproportionately high number of surviving examples making the issue seemingly more common in higher grades.
Despite this, the
variety's
rarity has kept prices strong in the higher grades.
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