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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Click on Wear to show high points first susceptible to wear |
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
|
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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
|
BM
Benchmark
Ad
Adjectival
NP
NGC/PCGS
Collectable grades
Does not exist by definition
Investment grades
-
Unlikely to exist
Aspirational grades
BV
Bullion or metal value
Not known in these grades
''
Value as above
Proof
Y (Yes)
N (Not known)
N (Not known)
Last updated August 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.