Australia 1872-M sovereign Fr-16
This specimen was lot 44009 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Costa Mesa, CA, August 2021), where it sold for $528. The catalog description[1] noted, "AUSTRALIA. Sovereign, 1872-M. Melbourne Mint. Victoria. PCGS AU-55 Gold Shield. A boldly struck Sovereign with bright frosty luster in the peripheries and a few bagmarks in the fields." This "St. George and the dragon" type was struck 1871-87 at the Melbourne and Sydney mints simultaneously with the "shield" type. The SCWC does not attempt to separate the mintages of the two types altho this date is rare with the St. George reverse. The Melbourne mint was opened in 1872 to strike the gold found in Australia and was not employed to strike ordinary circulation coinage until 1916.
Recorded mintage: 748,000 (including shield reverse), a rare date.
Specification: 7.99 g, 0.917 fine gold, .2354 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Fr-16; S-3857; KM-7.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- McDonald, Greg, The Pocket Guide to Australian Coins and Banknotes, 23rd ed., Lavington, Australia, 2017.
- Pitt, Michael, ed., Renniks Australian Coin and Banknote Values, 32nd Edition, Matraville, New South Wales, Australia: Renniks Publications, 2023.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The August 2021 ANA sale: World and Ancient Coins, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2021.
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