Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 98 6-7 Jun 2017
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Australia -South Australia. Adelaide Pound, 1852. Fr-3; KM-2. Type 2. Rare. Victoria. Central crown with date below, surrounded by fancy scroll and beaded circle, outside of which is the prominent legend of Australia's first mint. Reverse: "Value One Pound" in ornamental circle, weight and fineness of the gold declared in surrounding legend. Light abrasions in the soft gold but still a really pleasing example with mint-fresh satiny luster. One of the true classics among gold coins of the world! NGC graded MS-63. WINGS. Estimate Value $30,000 - 35,000
At first the British colony of South Australia was an agricultural refuge for Englishmen wishing to be part of a new life away from queen and country. Most came to Australia as indentured laborers knowing that, in time, they too could claim their own space for farming in the vast continent down under. Suddenly, in the early 1850s, gold was discovered and this sleepy colony saw the immigration of a horde of gold-hungry prospectors. The sleepy town of Adelaide, capital of the region, was nearly abandoned by its merchants and other citizens as they rushed to the nearby gold fields. Within a few short years, it became a city built on gold.
Successful prospectors hauled their raw ore and gold dust into Adelaide, where it was used, as is, for every sort of transaction. But it was not efficient or exact. For a few months all that was seen was gold in this unrefined state. Sensing the need of commerce, the colonial treasurer and the bank manager decided to take action. They could not legally issue "British coins" but they could cause gold "tokens" of solid value to be made from the raw ore. The nascent South Australian Legislative Council passed a Bullion Act in 1852 which became the law that backed Australia's first money. The mint was called the Government Assay Office. It performed its duties virtually at the identical time and in the same manner as was being done thousands of miles away, by the territorial minters of old California. As was true in the New Land's west, Adelaide also first issued gold ingots, but they were not practical. By the end of November 1852, the assay office was busy minting its Adelaide Pounds. Local die-cutters were used. The design was simple but profound. When you held one of these coins, you knew you had real money, true value. It was spelled out right on the coins!
The first reverse die used for minting broke almost immediately. A crack appeared at the top of the legend running from the inner beading to the rim left of "DWT". A new, very similar but not identical die was quickly prepared. It was used to strike almost all Adelaide gold Pounds in existence today (without the die-crack, as we see in this lot). The Assay Office was successfully processing gold dust into these beautiful new coins; commerce was being served without any assistance from the authorities in London, thousands of miles away. Then by ship a royal warrant arrived permitting a British coinage for the colony, and the Assay Office was closed. Within four months, no more coins were made at the first Australian mint. The entire issue of gold consisted of some 25,000 coins, almost all of them being of the second-dies combination, or Type 2. Soon the money used in the colony bore the Young Head portrait of Queen Victoria, with a distinctive reverse design for the new Sydney Mint. These were British gold coins. Within months they replaced the Adelaide Pounds. But what became of Australia's first coins? Most were melted. Many survivors were damaged or made into jewelry. It was decades before numismatists around the world knew about the first gold coins of Australia, by which time most had long perished. The very finest remaining coins generally exhibit small abrasions, as they were made of nearly pure, soft gold ore. Owning an Adelaide gold Pound in any condition is rare. Rarer still is the chance to own a coin looking almost exactly as it fell from the dies 165 years ago.
At first the British colony of South Australia was an agricultural refuge for Englishmen wishing to be part of a new life away from queen and country. Most came to Australia as indentured laborers knowing that, in time, they too could claim their own space for farming in the vast continent down under. Suddenly, in the early 1850s, gold was discovered and this sleepy colony saw the immigration of a horde of gold-hungry prospectors. The sleepy town of Adelaide, capital of the region, was nearly abandoned by its merchants and other citizens as they rushed to the nearby gold fields. Within a few short years, it became a city built on gold.
Successful prospectors hauled their raw ore and gold dust into Adelaide, where it was used, as is, for every sort of transaction. But it was not efficient or exact. For a few months all that was seen was gold in this unrefined state. Sensing the need of commerce, the colonial treasurer and the bank manager decided to take action. They could not legally issue "British coins" but they could cause gold "tokens" of solid value to be made from the raw ore. The nascent South Australian Legislative Council passed a Bullion Act in 1852 which became the law that backed Australia's first money. The mint was called the Government Assay Office. It performed its duties virtually at the identical time and in the same manner as was being done thousands of miles away, by the territorial minters of old California. As was true in the New Land's west, Adelaide also first issued gold ingots, but they were not practical. By the end of November 1852, the assay office was busy minting its Adelaide Pounds. Local die-cutters were used. The design was simple but profound. When you held one of these coins, you knew you had real money, true value. It was spelled out right on the coins!
The first reverse die used for minting broke almost immediately. A crack appeared at the top of the legend running from the inner beading to the rim left of "DWT". A new, very similar but not identical die was quickly prepared. It was used to strike almost all Adelaide gold Pounds in existence today (without the die-crack, as we see in this lot). The Assay Office was successfully processing gold dust into these beautiful new coins; commerce was being served without any assistance from the authorities in London, thousands of miles away. Then by ship a royal warrant arrived permitting a British coinage for the colony, and the Assay Office was closed. Within four months, no more coins were made at the first Australian mint. The entire issue of gold consisted of some 25,000 coins, almost all of them being of the second-dies combination, or Type 2. Soon the money used in the colony bore the Young Head portrait of Queen Victoria, with a distinctive reverse design for the new Sydney Mint. These were British gold coins. Within months they replaced the Adelaide Pounds. But what became of Australia's first coins? Most were melted. Many survivors were damaged or made into jewelry. It was decades before numismatists around the world knew about the first gold coins of Australia, by which time most had long perished. The very finest remaining coins generally exhibit small abrasions, as they were made of nearly pure, soft gold ore. Owning an Adelaide gold Pound in any condition is rare. Rarer still is the chance to own a coin looking almost exactly as it fell from the dies 165 years ago.