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Australia 1930 Penny (English Obverse)

Mint:Melbourne Mintage:Estimate 100 Surviving < 10 Known 3 Milling:Plain
Weight:9.45 grams Diameter:30.8 mm Composition:97% Copper, 2.5% Zinc, 0.5% Tin
Click to enlarge
Wear
Obverse 1 - English
Click to enlarge
Wear
Reverse Am - London (melbourne modified)
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:
Designer: William Henry James Blakemore (no attribution)
Design:'ONE PENNY' surrounded by 90 beads contained within concentric circles
Legend:• COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA •
Denticle Count:174 teeth
Mint mark: None
Characteristics:
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
B
$20000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
 
 
$30000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
 
 
$40000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
 
 
$50000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
 
 
$75000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
 
 
$100000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
 
 
$150000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
 
 
$225000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
1
 
$350000
+
NGC
 
 
PCGS
1
 
$500000
+
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
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
 
 
-
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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
 
 
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-
+
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)
Last updated March 2024
Notes:
With the Great Depression taking hold, the Melbourne Mint received no orders from Treasury to strike 1930-dated pennies for circulation. However, in July of that year three 1930 penny reverse dies were struck most likely from a 1929 master tool for the intended purpose of striking specimens. The Melbourne altered 1929 reverse with its similar florid legend appears to be the source of the 1930 reverse rather than the long championed 1923 reverse which has flat based lettering. On August 13, 1930 twelve specimens were produced using one of these reverse dies, which was allied with an 'Indian' obverse die sourced from a fresh master tool that had been sent directly from London in 1922. No further pennies were struck by the Melbourne Mint in 1930 and it was not until August of the following year that the three 1930 reverses along with both English and Indian obverse dies were utilised for experimental purposes. Production from these dies is recorded as nil thousands, i.e. less than 1,000 coins per die which even then appears grossly overstated regarding the English obverse type of which only three or four surviving examples have surfaced. Evidence suggests that only one bag of blanks was used which could have produced 2,400 coins. However, if it is assumed that the two dies allied with Indian obverses produced under 1,000 coins each and an insignificant number of coins were struck using the English obverse, then the mintage of the 1930 penny must be well under 2,000. The common consensus is that around 1,500 coins were struck in total although this cannot be proved or disproved and this figure may still be an overestimation. As there were no counters on the coin presses, the annual coin production figures were at best rudimentary being deduced by a count of the number of bags of blanks used. For the stocktake, it was also the common practice for small runs of coins struck for experimental purposes to be returned to an open bag of blanks so that they would be included in the count. It is therefore probable that through the disbursement of the bag containing the experimental 1930 pennies, Australia's best-known rarity made its way into circulation and first came to the notice of collectors in the 1940s. There are enough penny blanks found in circulation to support the theory that bags containing a mixture of blanks and struck coins were on occasion inadvertently released.