The World of the Holey Dollar Book - First Edition by Philip Spalding

A truly limited edition hardback, one of just 750 leather-bound and fully illustrated copies of one of the most important books on Australian numismatics.

One of the largest, most valuable, comprehensive and simply mind-boggling collections of Australian coins ever formed was that by Philip Spalding, principally his collection of no less than 26Holey Dollars, the curious silver five shilling coins struck in colonial New South Wales by Lachlan Macquarie in an effort to stem the flow of specie leaving his fledgling colony.

It is the aspiration of nearly every Australian numismatist with a pulse that they one day own an example of the first coin struck on Australian soil. Due to his share of the family fortune (that which was created by the Spalding sporting goods company, well known in the manufacture of tennis racquets and the like), Mr Spalding was a man of some means and great passion for Australia's colonial coins, and he went on to acquire some 26 of these historic, rare and desirable coins.

Tireless Research and Attention to Detail

Philip Spalding's passion didn't stop with simply acquiring the coins, he researched their background ceaselessly, and became an unequivocal expert on the topic. The high point of his research was the publication of this book, which anyone is able to see is surely the result of many years of tireless research and attention to detail.

Whereas some numismatic texts can either be technically excellent however as dull as dishwater, and others can be accessible in their language yet less than accurate with the relevant facts, Spalding has published a book that not only includes a range of information on the Holey Dollars and Dumps that simply is unavailable elsewhere, he has also managed to present that information in a manner and style befitting the subject.

Spalding spared no expense in spending several hundred pages exploring the background to the first coins struck in Australia, as well as their likely manufacturing process and the technical characteristics of the dies that were used to manufacture them. He's complemented this with numerous warm stories that enunciate the social history that these enigmatic coins have yielded down the years. A numismatic textbook that is able to cause the reader to roar with laughter at a little-known story recounting the use of coinage in colonial New South Wales while at the same time providing clear evidence

Passages such as this can only come from an author with a steely determination to hunt out every last detail relating to their chosen subject, and a warm regard for the humanity surrounding the characters involved.

It's for these reasons that "The World of the Holey Dollar" is without doubt my single-most favourite Australian numismatic textbook, one that I enjoyed as much as learned from.

It is a work of art in itself, is rarer than many of the coins being chased by collectors the nation over, and is worthy of study by any keen student of the Holey Dollar and Dump.

Any serious numismatist with even a passing interest in our colonial coinage, let alone the Holey Dollar and Dump must own a copy of this book - your library is glaringly incomplete without it.

To view the Colonial Coins that Sterling and Currency currently have available please click this link.