Kangaroo Coins Guide
Port Phillip Kangaroo Office Coins Guide
This was a private venture which actually did make coins
William Joseph Taylor found there was a shortage of coins in Victoria.
He had exhibited his coining press at the Great Exhibition in London and easily .
On the face of things this looked like an excellent investment.
After all you could buy gold from miners at £2 and 15 shillings an ounce and make coins worth £4 an ounce.
He chartered the ship Kangaroo and eventually arrived in Melbourne.
The first problem was unloading the coining press -
there was no way to manhandle the press off the ship at Melbourne
It had to be completely dismantled and unloaded together with dies to strike
1/4 oz, 1/2 oz, 1 ounce and two ounce coins.
However the price of gold at Ballarat nearly doubled to £ 4 and 4 shillings an ounce.
At this new gold price the venture seemed doomed.
Taylor would not give in though and he opened the Kangaroo Office but it took eight months to reassemble the press.
The Port Phillip Kangaroo Office struck gold coins in two ounce (£8),one ounce (£4),
Half an ounce (£2) and 1/4 Ounce (£1) denominations.
These are all dated 1853 and are very rare.
Taylor then exhibited the press at the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition and tried to get new business for striking medals and tokens.
Regrettably this too failed and the press was sold and the dies were supposed to have been tossed into the sea at Port Philip Bay.
This turned out not to have happened and the dies for the one ounce and 1/4 ounce coins were found by Stokes & Sons of Melbourne.who were the purchasers of the original press.
This company now produces restrikes in lead for the Numismatic Society of Victoria.
Taylor must have struck trial pieces from each die.
There is a complete set in gold at the British Museum and the Royal Australian Mint also has gold coloured copper restrikes.
These trial pieces sometimes appear at auctions.
Taylor did not yet give up - he prepared dies for a pattern fourpence,sixpence and shilling but these were never sent to Australia.
In 1860 the reverse of the Australian Pattern Shilling was muled with the obverse the English Pattern shilling by Wiener.
There are specimens in gold,silver and copper.Restrikes do exist.
