The Australian Crown is a silver coin which was used in the Commonwealth of Australia prior to decimalisation. It has the same dimensions and composition as the British pre-decimal crown, from which it is derived. A Crown is equal to five shillings, or 60 pence, or one quarter of a pound.
The Australian Crown was originally intended to commemorate the ascension of King Edward VIII; however, due to his abdication, it was instead struck to commemorate the ascension of King George VI. The Crown quickly lost its commemorative appeal and its lack of popularity led to its production being terminated. 1,008,000 Australian Crowns were minted in 1937 and only 101,600 in 1938, making the 1938 much more valuable today. There were no further issues.
After decimalisation on 14 February 1966, unlike some of the smaller denominations, the crown was not re-denominated into a unit of the new currency. The coins were not very popular due to their large size and had not circulated much even before they were withdrawn from circulation in 1966. However, they were never formally demonetised and are still legal tender. |
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The obverse of the coin shows the bare (uncrowned) head of King George VI facing left.
Below the neck truncation in small letters, the artist's initials HP (for [Thomas] Humphrey Paget).
Around, the monarch's legend: GEORGIVS VI D : G : BR : OMN : REX F : D : IND : IMP.. Translated from Latin: George the Sixth, by the Grace of God, King of all the Britains, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India.
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