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The Australian penny coin was a small circulating denomination of the Australian Pound. It has the same dimensions and composition as the British pre-decimal penny, from which it is derived (for a time, the coins circulated in parallel and were interchangeable in Australia - but not in the United Kingdom; the currencies were fixed at par). It was worth one twelfth of an Australian shilling and 1/240 of an Australian pound. The reverse of this first type of Australian penny coins features text only. In 1938, a new design superseded this one - featuring the iconic leaping kangaroo; the old type of coins remained in circulation. Coins issued in 1930 were withdrawn at decimalisation in 1966 after 36 years in circulation, but have never been formally demonetised and are still legal tender. In 1930 the country was in an economic depression and the Melbourne Mint received no orders from the Commonwealth Government for new coins. Orders for silver coins were always treated differently at the mint to those for bronze; silver could only be struck after an order was received. Bronze however could be stockpiled. The new dies bearing the changed date 1930 were therefore tested for the bronze halfpenny and penny denominations even though no order existed. Stocks of the halfpenny were a little low so a small production run was undertaken; however there were plenty of 1929 pennies in store so only a few small trial runs to test the dies were made. The output of these runs were placed in the store with the 1929 coins but were so few that no record was made of their number. A small number of specially prepared proof coins were made, six penny and six halfpenny pieces. These proofs were sent to the two major public numismatic collections in Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria (these were later transferred to Museums Victoria) and the Art Gallery of South Australia, and to the British Museum. It was 1931 before any new order for bronze coins was received and the stock of 1929 pieces with the additional few 1930 pennies was released. The 1930 penny became the best known rare Australian coin and the proof examples, two of which were officially released by the museums to which they had been sent, are currently the most valuable Australian coins among collectors. This is the key date of the series. | ||||||
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Royal Mint |
Variety | Proof | |
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Mintage | Issued: 6 | |
Details | A small number of specially prepared proof coins were made, six penny and six halfpenny pieces. These proofs were sent to the two major public numismatic collections in Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria (these were later transferred to Museum Victoria) and the Art Gallery of South Australia, and to the British Museum. |
Source | Edition | About | Link | Notes |
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Museums Victoria Collections | 2016 | Coin description | link | |
Museums Victoria Collections | 2016 | Mint | link | |
Museums Victoria Collections | 2016 | Mintage | link | Proof mintage |
Remick, Catalogue of British Commonwealth Coins | 1971 | Varieties | Proof | |
Museums Victoria Collections | 2016 | Varieties | link | Proof |
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Buy Austrian Silver Philharmonics Online |
Country | Australia |
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Currency | Australian Pound |
Coin Type | Penny - Commonwealth of Australia |
Issued | 1930 |
Monarch | King George V |
Effigy | King George V - Crowned Bust, by Bertram Mackennal |
Face Value | 1 (x Penny) |
Total Mintage | unknown |
Current | No; withdrawn 1966 |
Material | Bronze |
Designer | William Henry James Blakemore |
Technology | Milled (machine-made) |
Shape | Round |
Orientation | Medal Alignment (Axis 0) |
Size | 30.8000 mm |
Mass | 9.4500 g |
OCC ID | KLBR-PERR-CBKD-EMNY |
Image | Details |
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Proof Coin - 1 Penny, Australia, 1930
Copyright: Museums Victoria / CC BY Author: Naomi Andrzejeski Notes: Proof. Source |
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Proof Coin - 1 Penny, Australia, 1930
Copyright: Museums Victoria / CC BY Author: Naomi Andrzejeski Notes: Proof. Source |
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Coin - 1 Penny, Australia, 1930
Copyright: Downies Source |
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Coin - 1 Penny, Australia, 1930
Copyright: Downies Source |
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Australia 1930 penny
Copyright: CoinFactsWiki / CC BY-SA Author: Heritage Auction Galleries Source |
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Australia 1930 penny
Copyright: CoinFactsWiki / CC BY-SA Author: Heritage Auction Galleries Source |
Source | Reference ID |
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Krause, Standard Catalog of World Coins | Australia KM# 23 |
Schön, Weltmünzkatalog | Australien Schön# 14 |
Renniks, Australian Coin and Banknote Values | B29 |
Australian Coin Chart | P27 |