Australia 1877-M sovereign
This specimen was lot 6020 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2017), where it sold for $881.25. The catalog description[1] noted, "AUSTRALIA. Sovereign, 1877-M. PCGS MS-63 Secure Holder. Horse with long tail. Nice strike with attractive luster." This familiar "St. George and the dragon" type was struck 1871-87 at the Melbourne and Sydney mints simultaneously with the "shield" type altho the shield type was not used at Melbourne between 1875 and 1879. The SCWC does not attempt to separate the mintages of the two types. 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: 1,487,000 (no shield sovereigns are recorded for Melbourne in 1877).
Specification: 7.99 g, 0.917 fine gold, .2354 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Fr-16; KM-7; S-3857.
- 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]Ponterio, Richard, The January 2017 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Richard Stuart Collection, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2016.
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