‘THE HOARD’
RARE SHORT-LIVED
AUSTRALIAN
1938
SILVER CROWN
PART OF ANTIQUE DEALER’S PERSONAL
COIN HOARD OVER 30 YEARS
PROVENANCE BELOW
Photos taken with
and without
a flash.
This listing is for a genuine
rare Australian one Crown
coin dating to 1938.
It’s been in the possession of a
family member (who is over 80
years old now) for so long they
have no recollection of how they
came by it but this person was
NEVER
a coin collector but did work in the
family’s cafe all through the
1950s and 1960s when this
coin was officially taken
out of circulation in 1966
with decimalisation (but
technically it has never
been demonetised).
They only minted these Crowns
in 1937 and a small run in 1938
(i.e. 1,008,000 1937 crowns were
struck compared to only 101,600
1938 crowns) for the new King
George VI – well in reality they
were designed for the ascension
of King Edward VIII but of course
he abdicated.
But this coin proved to be completely
unpopular and there was a bit of
an uproar when they started the
second run of them in 1938 and
so it was cut it short.
Also the 1938’s were infamously
‘lightly struck’ compared to the
1937’s - the most reported
weakness is the hair above the
region of the King’s ear.
This one looks miss struck actually-
See below under Condition for details.
The two main reasons for their unpopularity
were the sheer weight of carrying the coin
around and the second was the shopkeepers
hated them as their value was
equal
to 5 shillings (50 cents) which
meant
a lot of change was required when some
little snot-nosed kid came in a
bought
tuppence (2 pennies or 2 cents) worth
of lollies - or even less as they had half
pennies then too and even in my day
in the 1960s half a penny could buy
a few raspberry jubes or a cobber.
From what I can ascertain they were
not used by the general public much
after their release & basically
‘put away’
as commemorative keepsakes or as
a
novelty or an investment or collectable
of the future which they are.
They are of course .925 sterling silver
and so there are stories of them
being shipped over to China in
the 1960s in large quantities to
be melted down as the price of
silver was so high at this time but
this is not verified apparently.
DETAILS & CONDITION
PLEASE NOTE:
I’m an Antiques Dealers
NOT a
Numismatic dealer and so
not
qualified to officially
grade coins.
Condition appears better than a lot
that I have seen – at worst lightly
circulated and possibly AUNC?
But there are a lot of very fine
scratches on the Obverse that
show up with the flash that are
NOT obvious with just the
naked eye.
Compares well with other
officially
graded coins that have
sold for
well over $1000 and up
to $2000
or more.
The 1938 crowns were renowned for
being lightly struck but this one
is
actually more miss struck than
lightly struck which makes it an
‘error’ coin to boot.
I’ve only found one other 1938
coin that has an area of faint
lettering and/or numbers similar
to this one but the fault of the
other coin is in the 19 of the
date and to the left of this.
In this coin the miss strike affects
both faces at the same juncture -
i.e. FAINT lettering on the top left side
of the Obverse which is to a lesser
extent than the lettering on the right
side of the Reverse which is far
more prevalent - see photos.
I have weighed this coin too but
my OLD jewellery scales only have
one decimal point but it comes in
at:-
28.3 which is about right.
We don’t clean our coins but I
can’t say for certain if this has
never been cleaned or not but
no obvious signs of it to me
except perhaps the light scratches
going both directions on the
Obverse side particularly.
The surface marks present really
only suggest it has been lightly
circulated at worst with some
deeper marks and dings that are
more than likely from the notoriously
bad handling at the mint itself
i.e. they were dropped off the
conveyer belt at a far height
apparently into a large bag of
other crowns causing lots of ‘teeth’
marks etc even before they
hit the streets!
There are a few very small black dots
of oxidization on both sides but
nothing dramatic – see photos.
Looks relatively bright and shiny
with the naked eye but with the
high magnification of the photos
you can see it’s a little grubby
too but not too bad overall.
I think this is a very good example
of a very rare coin with provenance.
AUSTRALIAN
1938 COMMEMORATIVE
ISSUE ONE CROWN FOR
KING GEORGE VI
OBVERSE
Portrait
of King George VI facing left
Script: Latin
GEORGIVS VI
D:G:BR:OMN:REX F:D:IND:IMP.
HP
Translation: George
VI by the Grace of God, King of all the British territories, Defender of the
Faith, Emperor of India
Designer: Thomas
Humphrey Paget
REVERSE
Queen
Victoria’s Diamond Crown above date and value
Lettering:
COMMONWEALTH:OF:AUSTRALIA
1938
• ONE CROWN •
Designer: George
Kruger Gray
Edge: Reeded
Mint: Royal Mint, Melbourne,
Australia (1872-1969)
OFFICIAL SPECIFICATIONS
Year: 1937- 1938
Type: Circulating commemorative coin
Composition: Silver
Purity: .925 sterling
Weight: 28.27g
Diameter: 38.5mm
Thickness: 3mm
Ruler: George VI
WILL HAPPILY COMBINE POSTAGE
THE HOARD
The coins we are listing have been
picked up from estates we have
purchased over the last 35+ years.
Thousands of coins from around
the world and covering 4 centuries
and beyond (1 Roman coin) that we’ve
never had the time to sort through to
sell them so just kept accumulating.
We are now retired (semi) and have
had a great time over the last
few weeks
Noodling and doing a bit of
research
BUT
we were general Antique dealers,
NOT coin dealers and so our knowledge
is limited hence nothing will be
graded
using the official coin grading tables
as it would be guess work by us but
with the help of good clear photos
and our own assessment of each listing
we feel potential buyers will
have all
the tools required to feel confident and
pleased with their purchase
(see our feedback for happy customers).
We will be selling some bulk lots and/or
groups of coins and some individually
(not getting any younger and not possible
to list them one by one).
Always be reassured we are happy
to answer any questions you may have
and combine postage to the fullest
extent we can (it’s getting costly!)
>>>>>>C161<<<<<<
We
guarantee our descriptions are accurate
and
our prices competitive.
Please
bear in mind that all our items are antique or
vintage
and may have some age related issues.
If
you like your item please leave us feedback
and
we will respond immediately.
If,
for any reason, you are unhappy,
PLEASE
come
back to us so we can try and
resolve
any issue you might have.
THANK
YOU
>>>>>><<<<<<
FREIGHT-
AUSTRALIA POST RATES for Australia
International is a whole other thing - please ask
WILL HAPPILY COMBINE POSTAGE
WHERE POSSIBLE
ANY PURCHASE VALUED AT OVER $100
MUST BE INSURED & WILL BE ADDED
TO BASE POSTAGE FEE.
Domestic insurance is $2.50 for the
first $200.00
and $2.50 for each succeeding $100.00 or
part thereof.
Above $500.00 please add $2.95 for
compulsory signature.
We will gladly combine shipping where
possible.
If you pay before
we have issued the invoice
with the combined
postage cost we will just refund
the unused portion.
Any questions or query's
please contact so we can look into it.
INTERNATIONAL BUYERS PLEASE NOTE
We Happily Ship To Most International
Destinations.
BUT THE ITEM HAS TO BE
INSURED.
International insurance is $4.00 for the
first $200.00
and $4.00 for each other $100 or part
thereof.
Above $500.00 please add $5.50 for
compulsory signature.
We will gladly combine shipping where
possible.
Import duties, taxes and
charges are not included in
the item price or
shipping charges.
These charges are the buyers responsibility.
Please check with your
country's customs office to
determine what
these additional costs will be prior
to bidding/buying.
>>>>>><<<<<<
THANK YOU
>>>>>><<<<<<
kollectik1
(Kollectik Pty.
Ltd.)
has been
trading successfully on eBay
for a very long
time now and hopefully will
be for a long time
to come
(please see our
feedback)
Between 2007 and
2018 we were also
The
Manly Antique Centre
which has now sadly
closed as our old building was
sold to Developers
and is now a block of units.......
of course.
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