Adelaide Pound - Type I, Coin from South Australia - detailed information

A coin-shaped ingot guaranteed to be worth a pound. The Colony of South Australia backed their valuation by giving exact details of the purity (22 carats) and weight (5 pennyweight and 15 grains) of the piece. It was made from gold brought to South Australia from the Victorian goldfields in 1852.

The One Pound ingots were made by the South Australian government to solve a major problem in the local economy caused by people leaving for the gold fields and taking most of the colony's money with them. The ingots were made illegally, without approval from Britain. By the time the written request for authority to make the pieces had arrived in England and the British Government's refusal had returned to Adelaide, the Assay Office had already opened, solved the problem by issuing the tokens and closed.

"Type I" pounds were struck from the first die which cracked very early in production (through the letter D of DWT).