Page 3 of Australian Gold Coinage

Sovereign collectors the world over have long known that Queen Victoria sovereigns with the Shield reverse are far scarcer than Young Head St George sovereigns of the same date. The 1886 Melbourne is not only the rarest date in the entire "Shield" series but dedicate...

Before the Melbourne Mint's very first coins were struck during the official opening ceremony by the Governor of Victoria, Sir John Manners-Sutton, on June 12th 1872, the early months of the Melbourne Mint were fraught with difficulty. Prime among the problems the Royal Mint staff faced was the c...

“The George Collection” of Australian sovereigns was auctioned by St James’s Auctions in London on March 5th, 2014. Not only did the George collection include at least three coins that would headline any Australian numismatic auction of significance, the auction catalogue itsel...

This enigmatic medallion is the first in a unique set of three - they are the only medallions struck by an Australian Mint prior to 1931 that commemorates the Mint, as opposed to an event or occasion. Although the Sydney, Melbourne and Perth Mint...

The 1880 Sydney Shield reverse sovereign with the inverted "A" error in the obverse legend is a true rarity within the Australian sovereign series - it is one of just six errors known on Australian sovereigns, and is one of just two Australian sovereigns that ha...

The 1858 half sovereign with the "RR" error in the reverse legend was not the first major error or variety discovered in the Australian gold coin series, nor is it even the rarest. For the moment at least, it is the most highly coveted and the most valuable. The...

The 1918 Perth half sovereign is truly an enigmatic coin - five decades had passed from the date it was made before Australian collectors were able to even confirm that it existed. From the time the first known example was photographed on page 5 of the April 1967 edition of the Australian Coi...

For many years, the 1856 Sydney half sovereign with the Type 2 reverse was believed to be unique within the Australian gold coin series - no other circulating Australian half sovereign was known with this exact reverse design. That position has since changed, but the...