The proof (specimen) Australian 1930

Walter R Bloom

In the last two years the proof 1930 J Mullett, a former Senior Technical penny has gained much publicity in Officer of the Mint and, before WWII, the popular media with the high profile its Acting Superintendent).2 In fact the offering of ’s most expensive Mint staff had as early as 1919/1920 coin through a leading coin started to produce their own dies, dealer. That this coin is outstanding in distinguished by having a dot below both its quality and rarity is beyond the bottom scroll on the reverse (and question, and begs the question of the for some dies above the top scroll as provenance of all six such coins that well). The reason for doing so was were known to have been produced. quite simple, the shipping time for dies This article continues the study of from the Royal Mint in London was John Sharples, former Curator of so great that at times its Melbourne Numismatics at Museum , on Branch just ran out of working dies. the 1930 penny circulation strikes,1 by The experimenting included different identifying the six known specimens, steel types and the production of hubs documenting the known provenance from working dies. By 1929 the Mint for each of the three specimens in found itself at a time of low production, private hands, and identifying a hitherto at the start of the Great Depression, and unrecorded die fault. It also discusses it was the beginning of the Royal Mint the label proof when these coins should Melbourne Branch embarking on a path properly be referred to as specimen of independence from its British parent strikes. for its day-to-day work. The story of the 1930 penny is quite The starting point for John intriguing and has been well explored Sharples’ paper was the following letter by Sharples. It began at the Royal Mint (167/30) to the Deputy Master of the Melbourne Branch, when Mint staff Royal Mint Melbourne Branch, 26th were experimenting with die production May 1930, from A Bolle, Secretary to (for this and other facts concerning the the Treasury: production of coinage at the Melbourne Referring to your letter dated 6 branch of the Royal Mint, we refer to March, No. 63/30, in which you the detailed report of the late William ask that you be advised as to the

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probable requirements of Silver was said and when. and Bronze Coin for the current Sharples deduced from the calendar year, I have to inform records that: the 1930 you that no additional supplies penny was minted in 1930; there were of Silver or Bronze Coin will be two different obverse dies; the number required by banks during the of 1930 struck is still unknown; ensuing year. and the 3 in the date shows evidence of For a long time the Royal Mint overdating. Mullett wrote: didn’t even admit to the existence of the The production of 1930 pence 1930 penny, and then it conceded that might be: a few were struck. Hagley, writing in (a) In August, 1930, there were 1950 by memory about his acquisition struck 12 specimen pieces and of his 1930 specimen (see below), wrote the discards in producing and My first contact with the 1930 selecting these. The obverse penny occurred about fifteen years [bead] count was 178 and the ago when I acquired a specimen reverse 174. from the Art Gallery duplicates; (b) In August, 1931, there were this was a proof … It was not experiments involving the until about five years later that three 1930 reverse and my friend, Fritz Schafer, of the obverse of two types.5 Melbourne Gallery told me that It has always been thought that he had discovered two specimens there was some possibility of visitors in circulation.3 having received coins from one pair Here specimens is synonymous of dies. This was dismissed by Mullett with examples and refers to ordinary in his publication Australian Coinage strikes. because of the location of the dies and Some sixty years later Gilbert the small number of visitors during Christoph Heyde wrote in his memoires: the last four months of 1930, but he The 1930 Penny: About 1942 later goes on to allow the possibility Sydney Hagley told me there was of visitors having received coins from an Australian 1930 penny, and one pair of dies.6 There seems to be no he had been shown one. The Mint evidence for this one way or the other. said that none had been made or One thing that is certain is that the issued that year.4 so-called proof 1930 pennies are in fact Both these two statements specimens, and indeed this is the term were written some years after the used by Mullett for twelve such pieces event, which would account for their (as we will see, only six are known to inaccuracies. This is not unusual when exist). The difference between proof and trying to recall years later exactly what specimen has been discussed in various

2 JNAA 21, 2010 (2011) The proof (specimen) Australian 1930 penny forums; Carlo D’Angio writes: (). The Age The term “Specimen” describes Newspaper, 17th December 1964, has coins which have been created some details of the case.8 This coin from working dies in limited was returned to the Melbourne Mint numbers and individualised for Museum, then in 1978 it went to the inspection. Only a small number Science Museum in Swanston Street, of coins are carefully struck (once and then in about 1982 to Museum only, unlike proof strikes), and Victoria, which is an amalgamation individually handled…”7 of the Melbourne, Immigration and The known six specimen 1930 Science Museums. There is general pennies have been recorded as follows. tarnishing but it is in fact brighter than Three museums were sent two examples AGSA1 below (this isn’t clear from the each and all institutions have parted printed image). with their duplicates. The first in each Aldo Giuseppe Massola (1910– group, the piece presently held at the 1975) has an entry in the Australian museum, is labelled with a 1, and the Dictionary of Biography,9 which second, the piece that is now privately includes these sentences: held, labelled with a 2. In this way it In those impecunious years, is easier to track the provenance of the Massola (Note: then Curator of privately held specimens. Anthropology at the National In 1930 two specimen 1930 Museum of Victoria) doubled as pennies (MM1, MM2) went into the honorary numismatist for the then Melbourne Mint Museum collection co-located National Gallery of (then co-located with the National Victoria. On 6 December 1963 he Gallery of Victoria) and two were sent was charged with the theft of rare to the Public Library, Museum and Art coins. Convicted in 1964 on three Gallery of South Australia (AGSA1, counts of larceny, he received a AGSA2), and in 1931 two (BM1, BM2) two-year gaol sentence, but was arrived at the British Museum. There is released on parole after twelve no trace of the remaining six mentioned months. On 6 January 1965 he by Mullett. was dismissed from the museum. The six known specimens are as In the following year he was follows: charged with six further counts of MM1 theft from the National Gallery. Accession Number NU 5310 was Again convicted on three counts, stolen by Aldo Massola in 1963, but he was fined $110 and costs. was retrieved after being shown to Ray According to the sympathetic Jewell by a dealer who had purchased stipendiary magistrate, Massola it; this is now held at Museum Victoria was ‘an obsessed collector rather

JNAA 21, 2010 (2011) 3 Walter R Bloom

Figure 1. MM1 (© Museum Victoria).

Figure 2. MM2 (privately held).

than a thief in the ordinary sense’. Mint through Deputy Master Mr W M MM2 Robinson on 8th October 1930, is held This coin went missing sometime at the Art Gallery of South Australia. in the 1960s and later appeared on the It was noted as being received on 9th private market. It was described as October 1930, with diameter 39/32” sharply and squarely struck, cabinet and weight 144.5 troy grains. It has an friction on the high points of the ink blob behind the King’s head, tiny obverse, mostly brown with traces of raised flecks on the obverse, the orb red, the reverse nearly fully brilliant on head is clear but not sharp, with a small area of carbon spotting, and there are three significant stains on otherwise nearly FDC and extremely the reverse, one above the top scroll, rare, this specimen unpublished. This one below the bottom scroll, and one ex-Melbourne Mint specimen sat in an at the top stroke of the letter ‘L’ in old private Melbourne collection for AUSTRALIA together with some minor decades, and was known to have been ones including one on either side of ‘N’ sold in 1997 (see provenance below). in ONE, and another to the right of ‘E’ AGSA1 in ONE. Accession Number 25613, which AGSA2 was purchased from the Melbourne Accession Number 25614, which

4 JNAA 21, 2010 (2011) The proof (specimen) Australian 1930 penny

Figure 3. AGSA1 (© Art Gallery of South Australia).

Figure 4. AGSA2 (privately held). was purchased from the Melbourne from 1931 to 1976 (as it turned out, it Mint through Deputy Master Mr W was sitting unnoticed in the duplicates M Robinson on 8th October 1930, is cabinet for 35 years!) and was listed in the AGSA records as having exchanged in October 1981 with Spink diameter 39/32” and weight 146 (Australia) for an 1852 Adelaide pound troy grains. On 31st March 1941 the with cracked die (1981-10-19-1). The duplicate was de-accessioned and Adelaide pound was Lot 368, Spink Sydney Hagley purchased it from the Auctions (Australia), Sale 5, 5th March Gallery. There is evidence of cleaning 1981. on the reverse between the ‘A’ and ‘L’ of The codes used by the British ‘AUSTRALIA’. Museum are: BM1 • 1931 - year of acquisition 1931-3-2-3 was purchased from • 3 = March - month of acquisition the Melbourne Mint, accessioned in • 2 - second group of objects acquired March 1931, and is held in the British that month Museum. • 1, 2, 3 etc - sequential numbering BM2 within the group 1931-3-2-2, which was accessioned The acquisition register records that at the same time as BM1, went missing for the group 1931-3-2 (the acquisition

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Figure 5. BM1 (© Trustees of the British Museum).

Figures 6a and 6b. BM2 (privately held). from the Melbourne Mint) there are Spink Auctions (Australia), Sale 54, Lot two 1930 pennies listed, one of which 1437. is marked as having been removed AGSA2 as a duplicate. They are described in Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery the register as “ordinary Australian of South Australia, 8th October 1930, type”, but on the ticket under BM1 it Melbourne Mint (D W Robinson). is noted as a proof. The minutes of the Sydney V Hagley (Adelaide), 31st department show that the two pennies March 1941, National Gallery of South were purchased along with a Australia. and two halfpennies for £1-1-9 from Dr Curtis R Paxman, around 1970, the Deputy Master of the Melbourne private sale. Mint. The British Museum used to have Dr Alec Dobbin (Sydney), 4th-6th a policy of exchanging duplicates, but November 1974, purchased through this has long since ceased. auction of the Paxman Collection from Bowers & Ruddy (Los Angeles).10 Provenance of the privately held Laurence Nugent (Adelaide), 19th specimens November 1981, Spink Auctions MM2 (Australia), Sale 6, Lot 957. Private collector, 22nd–24th July 1997, Spink Auctions (Australia), 1982,

6 JNAA 21, 2010 (2011) The proof (specimen) Australian 1930 penny

Laurence Nugent (private sale). Spink Auctions (Australia), 20th-22nd Douglas J Moran (Sydney), Spink March 1996, Sale 50, Lot 1550 (unsold). Auctions (Australia) (private sale). Private collector, 17th–18th November Private collector (Melbourne), 29th 1999, Spink Auctions (Australia), Sale March 2000, Noble Numismatics 62, Lot 1602. (Sydney), Sale 63, Lot 1377. Coinworks (Melbourne) recently sold Denticle fault above ‘F’ in ‘OF’ this coin. There is a fault on the reverse AGSA2 has for a long time been above the ‘F’ of ‘OF’ (Fig. 7: a minute incorrectly described as originating round blob (B) near the edge, between from Albert Malet Le Souef, Deputy the denticles and a badly formed Director at the Melbourne Mint, 1921– denticle (A) to the left of this). The five 1925. This could not have been the case of the six 1930 specimen pennies for as the acquisition date and the date of which the author has detailed reverse Le Soeuf’s Deputy Directorship don’t images exhibit this fault, and it is quite match, and in any case this coin doesn’t possible that all 1930 pennies do, but it appear in Sharples’ catalogue of the Le is virtually impossible to detect this on Souef Collection.11 lesser grade coins. Figure 8 is the finest BM2 known circulation strike of the 1930 British Museum, March 1931, penny and the denticle fault isn’t clearly Melbourne Mint, (D W Robinson). evident. This can probably be explained Spink Auctions (Australia), October that it was an earlier striking, whereas 1981, British Museum (exchange). the specimen versions were struck late Private collector, May 1987, Spink in 1930 by which time this area of the Auctions (Australia). die had deteriorated.

Figure 7. Denticle fault (AGSA1). Figure 8. Denticle fault (finest known circulation strike).

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Figure 9. Overdate (AGSA1). Figure 10. Indian die obverse.

Overdate of the ‘3’ in 1930 Sharples has already observed that the 1930 pennies show an overdate of the ‘3’ (Fig. 9).12 The four of the six 1930 specimen pennies for which the author has detailed date images exhibit this quite clearly, as does the penny shown in Figure 8.

Die combinations Sharples has identified two die combinations for the 1930 penny, all with the London reverse, and with both the English and Indian obverses represented. All the 1930 pennies discussed in this article have the Indian die obverse (Fig. 10). These also have the London die reverse (Figs 11a and 11b). Finally, note that all but one (MM2) of the 1930 pennies discussed in this article have curved-base letters on the reverse.

Conclusion The six known specimen 1930 Figures 11a and 11b. London die reverse. pennies have similar characteristics on

8 JNAA 21, 2010 (2011) The proof (specimen) Australian 1930 penny the reverse, with the marked denticle Noble Numismatics for supplying fault and the overdate of the 3, and in images and details of MM2, AGSA2 theory this would provide a relatively and BM2. straightforward way of detecting forged John Mulhall (Editor, The 1930 pennies, but in practice only those Australasian Coin & Banknote of high grade show this fine detail. The Magazine) for supplying the image of die combinations’ approach, as outlined the reverse of BM2. by Sharples, is not so dependent on Victor von der Heyde for supplying grade and can be used to identify those an electronic version of [4]. forged 1930 pennies in the case where Paul Hannaford for supplying the the last digit has been altered from a images of the finest known circulation penny minted between late 1931 and strike of the 1930 penny. 1936. Colin E Pitchfork for our many useful conversations. Acknowledgments ABC Reporter Tracee Hutchison Notes for setting me on the path of AGSA2 1. Sharples, J. (1987) ‘The 1930 penny’, and kindling my interest in the proof JNAA, Vol 3: 3–11. 1930 pennies. 2. Mullett, W. J. (1991) Australian Elizabeth Mullett for giving me coinage. An account of particular coins copies of her late husband’s publications, , Chifley (ACT): 11-16. 3. Hagley, Sydney V. (1950) ‘The including the very important one listed 1930 penny’, The South Australian in the references below. Numismatic Journal, Vol 1, No. 3: 21. John Sharples for facilitating my 4. Heyde, Gilbert Christoph (2005) Letter viewing of MM1 and supplying copies to Oscar and to all members of our of records related to MM1 and MM2. extended family: 301. Museum Victoria for supplying the 5. The obverse bead count corresponds to image of MM1. the so-called Indian die. See the section Peter Lane for facilitating my on die combinations below. Mullett, viewing of AGSA1 and supplying W. J. (1991) Australian coinage. An copies of records related to AGSA1 and account of particular coins, Chifley AGSA2. (ACT): 16 6. Ibid.: 15. The Art Gallery of South Australia 7. D’Angio, Carlo (2009) ‘Coming to for supplying the image of AGSA1. terms with “terms”’, The Australasian Dr Catherine Eagleton for Coin & Banknote Magazine, Vol. 12, facilitating my viewing of BM1. No 8: 50–51. The British Museum for supplying 8. ‘Former curator convicted of coins the image of BM1. theft’, The Age, Melbourne (17 Jim (James William) Noble of December 1964): 12.

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9. Australian Dictionary of Biography – online edition, http://adbonline.anu. edu.au/adbonline.htm. 10. ‘Major Australian rarities highlight Bowers and Ruddy Galleries auction’, Australian Coin Review, Vol. 11, No 4, (October 1974): 1, 10. 11. Sharples, John (1986) ‘Catalogue of coins, medals & checks in the A. M. Le Souef collection’, JNAA, Vol. 2: 25–36. 12. Sharples, John (1992) ‘Penny reverse master dies of ’, JNAA, Vol. 6: 21–29.

Professor Walter Bloom is the honorary numismatist at the Western Australian Museum. He is President of both the Numismatic Association of Australia and Numismatic Society, and is Vice-President of the International Committee on Money and Banking Museums (ICOMON). He is also the writer of the Oceania sections of the Survey of Numismatic Research. [email protected]

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