Halfpenny 1951, Coin from Australia - detailed information

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 FIDEI DEF.. Translated from Latin: George the Sixth, by the Grace of God, King of all the Britains, Defender of the Faith.

At centre a kangaroo leaping right; around above, AUSTRALIA; around below, the denomination HALF PENNY. The date 1951 is below the kangaroo and the seven pointed Federation star follows the word PENNY. The artist's initials, KG (for [George] Kruger Gray) are below the kangaroo's tail near the rim.

Coins minted by the Royal Mint in London and the Birmingham Mint (ex Heaton & Sons) share the same mint mark, PL (abbreviated from "Percussa Londinio" in Latin, meaning "struck at London") in tiny letters near the rim after the word PENNY; coins struck by these two mints are thus indistinguishable.

The Perth Mint did not have a mint mark on half penny coins issued this year.

Some of the Perth half pennies have a Y. mint mark and some do not. Some catalogues treat the Y. half pennies as a variety, while for others the "no mint mark" half pennies are the variety to the norm.

The London and Birmingham half pennies have the same mint mark so are indistinguishable. Remick 1971 lists them together, with combined mintage of 12,000,000.

However, the "Renniks Australian Commonwealth Coinage Guide", since its 3rd edition (January 1965) lists the Birmingham half pennies separately (and with values different from the London half pennies), as having no PL mint mark. Inconsistently, the proofs are listed as minted by the Melbourne Mint. These are listed as Perth pennies with no mint mark in all other catalogues.

Krause catalogues list the following mintages:
- Perth Mint: 29,422,000
- PL mint mark: 17,040,000, of which Birmingham Mint 5,040,000, the rest Royal Mint London