The Perth Mint played a central role in the development of Western Australia's gold industry. During the 19th century, three branches of the Royal Mint of London were established in the Australian colonies to refine gold from the gold rushes and to mint gold sovereigns and half-sovereigns for the British Empire. The Sydney branch opened in 1855, the Melbourne branch in 1872 and the Perth branch on 20 June 1899, two years before Australia's Federation in 1901. After World War I the production of sovereigns for circulation by the Royal Mint ceased; branch mints ceased production as their need for the coin diminished. Sydney was closed in 1926 but Melbourne went on striking until 1931 and Pretoria until 1932. Melbourne and Perth continued as branch mints, their main work being the treatment of gold and production of gold bars with contracts from the Australian Government to strike local coins. Royal Proclamations dated 29 May 1970 officially ended the role of Branches of the Royal Mint for Melbourne and Perth mints on 1 July 1970. The Sydney Mint and Melbourne Mint no longer operate, making the Perth Mint Australia's oldest currently operating mint. The Perth Mint now strikes a large variety of bullion and collector coins, as well as bullion bars and rounds and gold coin blanks for other mints. The first explicit reference to 400 oz cast bars, issued under the name of the Royal Mint Perth Branch, occurs in 1928. In 1972, after the formal transfer of the Royal Mint Perth Branch to the State of Western Australia under the In 1989, however, the dimensions of 4 bars were modified: 20 oz, 10 oz, 5 oz and 2 ½ oz. At the same time, the traditional 996.0 for small bars was upgraded to 999.9. During the 1990s, the 10 tola bar (1995) was issued, followed by 500 g, 250 g and 100 g bars (1998). The same official stamp of The Perth Mint was applied to small cast bars, 50 oz and less, from 1972 until 2010, when the current stamp was introduced. However, the official stamp recorded on 400 oz bars has changed several times: Royal Mint Perth Branch (1928 or earlier), The Perth Mint (1970), Australian Gold Refineries (1990), AGR Joint Venture (1998), AGR Matthey (2003), and The Perth Mint (since 2010). |
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From Year | 1899 |
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Country | Australia |
Location | Perth, WA |
Web | (official site) |
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Handbook of United States Coins 2025 |
AUSTRALIA. | Dot after A in the word AUSTRALIA. Located on the reverse of Australian One Penny and Half Penny coins of the Kangaroo type (1937 - 1964). Used only in 1952 and 1953. |
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K.G | Known as "K.G Pennies": a dot between the initials of the designer ([George] Kruger Gray) on the reverse of Australian One Penny coins of the "Kangaroo" type (1937 - 1964). This mint mark was only used in 1940 and 1941. |
Letter P | Letter P, located: |
No mint mark | On some coins, the Perth Mint did not have a mint mark. |
Perth Mint | Some of the bullion products of the Perth Mint are identified by its logo, which features the name of the company. |
· SHILLING · | Dots located on the reverse of Australian One Shilling 1946 coins, before and after the word SHILLING. Only used in 1946. |
Y. | A dot after the word PENNY on the reverse of Australian One Penny and Half Penny coins of the Kangaroo type (1937 - 1964). Used between 1942 and 1964. |