1855 Sydney Mint Type I Half Sovereign Fine ex RBA Archives
| We Last Sold This Item For: | $27,500.00 |
|---|---|
| Last Sold On: | 4/6/2020 |
| # Sold In Past 12 Months: | 0 |
Half Sovereign Queen Victoria 1855 Sydney Mint Fine
Obverse: Type I portrait of Victoria to left, date below and legend around
Reverse: Australia within wreath
Provenance:
Formerly held in the archives of the Reserve Bank of Australia, ex Downie Auction 290 (November 2005), Lot 522.
Graded by PCGS as Genuine (Bent - VF Detail)
The finest example held of Australia's rarest circulating coin held in the Reserve Bank of Australia archives.
The 1855 Sydney half-sovereign is unequivocally Australia's rarest circulating coin.
While there are other Australian coins that are regarded as being rarer, they are not standard coins issued for circulation - patterns, proofs, errors and varieties aren't considered for this exercise.
Current numismatic research indicates that there are perhaps only 1855 half sovereigns remaining available to collectors today. That is an incredibly low number when we consider that some 21,000 were struck for use in the colonial economy of New South Wales.
Up until November 2005, this particular example was held in the archives of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
It was auctioned by Downie's Australian Coin Auctions, and in a statement published as the introduction to the auction, the Governor of the RBA, Ian MacFarlane, stated:
"...the coins in this auction come from a Reserve Bank holding which was accumulated during the period from 1929 to 1976 when Australian law required that gold held by the public be sold to the central bank."
The total value of the coins auctioned by the RBA in November 2005 was $4.73 million - not exactly a large sum of money at all given the RBA's total official reserve assets of between A$50 million and A$60 billion, yet Governor McFarlane went on to state that "These coins do not serve any purpose for the Bank's policy and business operations, and so we have decided to dispose of them."
We should remind ourselves that the RBA had already sold 167 tonnes (approximately two thirds) of Australia's gold reserves over a 6-month period in 1997, so the decision to sell these coins should not have come as a great shock to anyone.
The auction was in fact just one means by which the RBA's physical gold holdings were tidied up:
"Some of the rare coins were placed into the Bank's Museum of Australian Currency Notes located in its head office in Sydney, which opened in early 2005. A number of other coins, identified by the Royal Australian Mint as having historical significance, were transferred to the Mint's National Coin Collection. The remaining coins were appraised by a respected numismatist and divided into two groups: those which had only a small or no numismatic value above gold content, which has already been sold to coin dealers or melted and sold as bullion; and those which were appraised to have significant interest to the community of collectors, which are now being offered for sale."
"The gold coins offered in this auction include Australian half sovereigns and sovereigns, Adelaide Pounds and some foreign coins, some of which are very rare and some - notably the best of the half sovereigns - were rated in the appraisal as among the finest known. With a very comprehensive representation of date and variety of coin, in a number of grades, I believe that all collectors will find something of interest. This auction will complete the disposal of the Reserve Bank's holdings of historical coins; the only ones remaining in our possession will be the few on display in the Museum."
This particular coin was lot 522 in the RBA sale back in 2005 - it made pretty much twice the value of the six other 1855’s in the sale and was very keenly contested.
My notes in my copy of the catalogue show that it went to a private collector, and not a dealer.
It was the 4th most valuable coin in the entire sale:
- A Type II Adelaide Pound in Choice Uncirculated condition made $66,000 hammer;
- An 1882 Sydney Young Head Half Sovereign with the 5/4 (rare/crenellated) reverse type made $48,000 hammer; while
- An 1893 Melbourne Veiled Head Half Sovereign made $58,000 hammer.
This 1855 half-sovereign, in fact, made more than the 1871 Sydney Young Head half-sovereign in Choice Uncirculated condition that was featured on the cover of the catalogue.
It remains the finest example of Australia's rarest circulating coin held by our nation's central bank, at a price that is around 2/3 of what it sold for a decade ago - that has to offer great value, surely.
Click the PCGS icon below to verify the certificate details for this coin directly on the PCGS website.
PCGS Certificate Number: 39114620
SKU: 23054
Browse our catalog of Type I Sydney Mints below:
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