Australia Perth Sovereigns Guide

Australian Sovereigns with p mint mark for Perth

The Australian Mint was one of three mints set up in Australia to help with the problem of shipping gold to England,minting sovereigns and then shipping them back to Australia for use in commerce theree and in the Far East.

This speeded up production,increased security and cut transport costs dramatically.

The other two mints were in Sydney and Melbourne near the gold fields nearby.

Perth and other Australian Mint Sovereigns are some of the rarest Sovereigns obtainable.

The earliest Sovereign was the Young Head Victoria - the reverse design of which was taken directly from the  Shilling (a common currency at that time in Australia) and with a slightly different Young Head of Queen Victoria.

This is known as the Type 1 Australian Sovereign.This was minted at the Sydney Mint in 1855 and 1856 at the Sydney Mint and had a mintmark s below the wreath on the reverse.It had a silver content of 8.33 %.

To make the Sovereign look more Australian for the  type 2 Sovereign  a different design was used.There was  an Acacia Wreath on the reverse and was used all over the world including in India, S.America ,Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) Canada and London.In India there was said to be some disquiet over St George Killing the Dragon so the Shield was used

Some of the type  2 Sovereigns have a slightly unusual golden look to them - this was because the silver content was replaced with copper.  These were often exported to Ceylon and India.

Most Young head designs were minted with the George & Dragon reverse however and these are more commonly found.

Australian Jubilee Sovereigns are  reasonably common and most dates are easy to find in circulated condition.However in Uncirculated condition  many of these Sovereigns are quite rare.

Veiled Head Sovereigns were used until Queen Victorias death in 1901   Perth Mint marked 1899 are the rarest sovereigns in this design and are a good investment in the higher grades.

King Edward VII Sovereigns are rasy to find in Uncirculated condition and reasonably affordable.

King George Vth Sovereigns are surprisingly easy to find even in Uncirculated condition but some mintmarks are difficult or even impossible to obtain ( the 1920 Sydney Mint example is very rare)

Australian Sovereigns have always in the past been a great investment - what adds to the value of your collection is to make it as complete as possible..

Normal Coin Collecting traditions apply to Australian Mint Sovereigns in that rare coins usually increase in value. Sovereigns only fetch really high or record prices in the very best condition available and if they are of scarce dates..

Grading coins is truly essential with any sovereigns other than bullion coins.

A collectors market is only marginally influenced by current gold prices - most  Gold Sovereigns are worth many times more than gold price already !

Thanks to ANDA for some of the information in this guide