? The 1856 Alternate Reverse Half Sovereign, first identified in a Spink Auction in 1981 but incorrectly attributed as having the 1853 pattern reverse is one of the more interesting varieties to come out of the early days of the Sydney mint. Its origin and purpose is a mystery but given the Sydney mint's constant shortage of dies as evidenced by the amount of tooling done to extend their working life in many of the early years, it is likely ...
? The iconic first business strike half sovereigns struck at the Sydney Mint were dated 1855 and 1856. The 1855 is one of the key Australian rarities with considerable Australian and international demand. It is estimated that 50 to 60 examples survived the initial small mintage of 21,000 with most being heavily worn or otherwise damaged. A total of seven examples were found in the Reserve Bank holdings, auctioned off by Downies in 2005 with very few examples appearing ...
? The enigmatic 1856/5 overdate is one of the more difficult overdates of the Sydney mint series. The overdate isn't as clearly visible as other issues such as the 1861/0 overdate, features hints of the loop of the 5 on the lower-right hand corner of the 6 but otherwise is chiefly identified by the presence of a dot after the date, a variety otherwise unique to the 1855. Dot after the date on an 1856/5 Overdate Half Sovereign ...
Get values for your 1994-P One Dollar
? The 1856 Sydney Mint Half Sovereign is the only affordable date of the Type I series with a sizable mintage of 478,000. It is readily available in lower grades with a number of AU or better graded pieces surfacing from the India hoard and from the Reserve Bank of Australia holdings . Due to these hoards of genuinely high grade pieces, the 1856 has not appreciated in value over the past decade with many present-day realisations of high grade pieces inline ...
