Australia 1920 (S) /./ Penny (English Obverse)

Mint:	Sydney	Mintage:	Part 146,160 Estimate 6,000 approx	Milling:	Plain
Weight:	9.45 grams	Diameter:	30.8 mm	Composition:	97% Copper, 2.5% Zinc, 0.5% Tin

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Obverse 1 - English

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Reverse C - Calcutta

Designer:	Sir (Edgar) Bertram Mackennal (Initials 'B.M.' raised on truncation)
Design:	Left facing profile of George V
Legend:	GEORGIVS V D. G. BRITT: OMN: REX F. D. IND: IMP: •
Denticle Count:	177 teeth
Mint mark:	None
Characteristics:	Upstroke on 'N' of 'OMN' falls between two denticles

Designer:	William Henry James Blakemore (no attribution)
Design:	'ONE PENNY' surrounded by 90 beads contained within concentric circles
Legend:	• COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA •
Denticle Count:	179 teeth
Mint mark:	/./ (Dot above bottom scroll)
Characteristics:	Apex of first 'A' of 'AUSTRALIA' falls between two denticles Apex of second 'A' of 'AUSTRALIA' falls between two denticles Apex of last 'A' of 'AUSTRALIA' falls between two denticles Straight based letters in the legend

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Value

BM Ad NP	8 Good VG10	10 VG F12	12 about F F15	15 Fine VF20	20 good F VF25	25 about VF VF30	30 Very Fine VF35	35 good VF EF40	40 about EF EF45	45 Ext Fine AU50	50 good EF AU53	53 about Unc AU55	58+ virt Unc AU58	58-60 Uncirc MS60	58-61 Uncirc MS61	58-62 Uncirc MS62	63-64 Choice Unc MS63	64-65 near Gem MS64	65-66 Gem MS65	66-67 Gem MS66	67-68 Gem MS67	68 near Flaw MS68	69 virt Flaw MS69	70 Flawless MS70	Proof
B	$1000 + NGC PCGS	$1500 + NGC PCGS	$2000 + NGC PCGS 1	$3000 + NGC PCGS 1	$4000 + NGC PCGS	$5000 + NGC PCGS 1	$7500 + NGC PCGS 2	$9000 + NGC PCGS 2	$15000 + NGC PCGS	$25000 + NGC PCGS 1	$35000 + NGC PCGS	$50000 + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	N
RB	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	N
R	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	" + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	- + NGC PCGS	N

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Benchmark

Adjectival

NGC/PCGS

Collectable grades

Does not exist by definition

Investment grades

Unlikely to exist

Aspirational grades

Bullion or metal value

Not known in these grades

Value as above

Proof

Y (Yes)
N (Not known)

Last updated February 2020

Notes:

A very small number of 1920 /./ pennies were struck by the Sydney Mint with an English obverse. Sydney had been sent three English obverse dies in July, 1920 along with three 1919 .//. reverses, so that it could prepare the presses to strike 1920-dated pennies. It is now apparent that one of these obverse dies was used 'experimentally' with a 1920 /./ reverse to produce this extremely rare variety. Its existence has only been confirmed for a little over a decade and there are about 15 currently known.

Its existence was first publicly noted on the 7th July 2003 by the collector John Saxton who posted on his well regarded coin blog that "a few days ago Geoff Raynes of Kalgoorlie WA discovered a hitherto unpublished variety of the 1920 Penny. The reverse features a dot over the lower scroll but the obverse is the London (English) die pattern."

W. J. Mullet in his book 'Australian Coinage - An Account of Particular Coins' states that the Sydney Mint struck 146,160 pennies in 1921 that must have been dated 1920, as Sydney had no 1921 reverse dies. These coins are likely to have been the experimental runs of 1920 pennies struck from the dies with differing dot placements that were forwarded to Sydney so that it could experiment with striking the larger sized pennies before beginning its main production of the 1920 /./ 'Indian Obverse' pennies. According to Mullet it was mint practice that coins struck from experimental dies "would be placed in a calico bag, added to the canvas draft bag and held in the strongroom and still accounted as a draft of blanks. The main responsibility was to account for the metal belonging to the Commonwealth rather than to claim an inconsiderable coin production". In that way the total number of 'experimental' coins, including the 1920 /./ 'English Obverse' pennies, would likely have been counted in a strongroom audit in 1921 before making their way into circulation.