Volume 20

Journal of the Numismatic Association of Australia

Cover.qxd 8/03/2011 10:19 AM Page 1

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This article describes the preparationof master tools at the Royal Mint (London)for the Australian pennies and halfpenniesof George V, thereby completing the listingof master tools for the pre-decimal bronzecoinage presented previously in volumes 8and 9 of this Journal.1, 2 Perhaps moreimportantly, the new insights gained fromthis information from EngravingDepartment records finally allow somelong-asked numismatic questions about thecomplexity of penny dies of George V tobe addressed.3 For example:

—Why did master tools for a secondpenny reverse die type come to befabricated in 1912, only a year after itsintroduction in 1911?—What was the origin of the new Indianobverse and Calcutta reverse penny dietypes in 1916?—Why did the Royal Mint revert to theoriginal 1911 reverse design for 1923dated pennies?—Why did the penny reverse die typechange in 1931?

Mint records also reveal the source ofthe letter and device punches used byWilliam H. J. Blakemore for engraving thereverse dies for Australian pennies andhalfpennies, as well as the source of theletter punches used for the obverses. Also,an inked impression of the penny reverse

master die used to prepare 193- datedpunches for Australia in September 1930was discovered in the records (Fig. 1).While it is of the same 1911 die type as the1930 penny, careful examination of theorientation of the numeral 3 shows thatthese punches could not have been used forthe 1930 penny, but apparently were usedin making dies for 1931 ‘dropped 1’pennies. This observation helps explain thechangeover in reverse die type for penniesin 1931. Finally, information on thepreparation of dated punches at the RoyalMint can be correlated with observationsof the variation in date numeral positionson the coins produced.

One of the numismatic delights ofGeorge V pennies is the variation exhibitedin their dies and the substantial number ofdifferent die pairing varieties that result.4–6

Master dies and tools from the Royal Mint for Australian pennies and halfpennies

of George VPaul M Holland

Figure 1. Inked impression of the penny reversemaster die of 13 Aug 1930 from EngravingDepartment records at the Royal Mint (London)used to prepare 193- dated punches for Australia.

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Paul M Holland

These die type variations can be readilyidentified by the relative position of thelegend with border beads or other features,including the English and Indian obversedie types, and the London, Birminghamand Calcutta reverse die types. Anunderstanding of the different die typesand how they arose begins with anunderstanding of modern methods of dieproduction and the preparation of die tools.

There are several different approachesfor the preparation of a master die (ormatrix). The standard method begins withthe preparation of a reduction punch (orhub) from a large relief model of thedesign prepared by the artist by employinga special reducing machine which tracesover the shape of the relief model andtransfers the design (at the actual size to beused on the coin) to a reduction punchusing a cutting tool. An importantadvantage of this approach is that thedesign, such as a portrait of the King, canbe precisely replicated at a variety of sizesfor different coins (e.g. threepence tocrown). Furthermore, this method alsoallows the relief to be altered, if necessary.For example, the relief used in the artist’soriginal model often needs to be reducedfor striking coins. The resulting reductionpunch provides a positive image of themain design feature for the coin at thecorrect size and relief, and once hardenedis used to transfer this design to a masterdie (negative image). Lettering for thelegend of the coin, mintmarks and otherfeatures can then be added to the design byhand using individual punches, and borderbeading added. These features includingthe number of beads and their positionrelative to the design and legend, whileseeming to be minor details, are especiallyimportant to the numismatist, since they

provide useful markers for identifying aparticular master die.

Alternatively, a master die (or matrix)can be engraved by hand, aided by the useof letter punches for the legend, andsometimes device or piece punches forother design elements. This requires ahigher level of skill and precision since it isdone at the same size scale as on the coinitself, and the results will depend on theartistry of the engraver.

Since producing a master die is a time-consuming and expensive process, it is toovaluable to be used for striking coins.However, once the master die has beenhardened it can be used to make punches(or hubs) carrying a complete copy of thedesign as a positive image, which in turncan be used to produce copies of the masterdie, including dies which can have specificdates and mintmarks added. Thesederivative master dies can then be used tomake fully dated and mintmarked punches(or hubs) for the production of manyworking dies for striking coins. Thiscascade of tool production, all derivedfrom the same master die and carrying thesame design, allows a nearly unlimitednumber of coins of identical design to beproduced over many years.

Before proceeding to a detaileddescription of the development of dies forthe George V bronze coinage, it is useful todiscuss several items which were wellknown to those at the Royal Mint but arepassed over in the records withoutcomment. For example, the firmsHuntsman and Bohler are both mentionedwith reference to punches, with Huntsmanclearly referring to Huntsman’s cruciblesteel (invented by Benjamin Huntsman in1756) widely used in die making, andBohler presumably referring to steel from

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Master dies and tools from the Royal Mint for Australian pennies and halfpennies of George V

the firm of Albert and Emil Böhler inVienna. The importance of table is arecurring feature in mint records in thecontext of developing master dies andtooling. Here, table refers to the surface ofthe die, which corresponds to the field of acoin and is normally slightly convex,ideally tapering by about 0.005 inch perinch of diameter.7 This plays an importantrole in controlling the flow of metal duringthe striking of coins, and there isconsiderable art in getting the convexity ofthe table just right. Also, as might beexpected in an informal notebook that wasnever intended to be an official record orreport, entries in the EngravingDepartment records are often somewhatcryptic, and gaps and omissions frequentlyoccur. For example, in some cases tools arelisted but no dates are given, making itnecessary to place these in sequence butwithout an assigned date, and it is likelythat some items were never recorded. It isalso possible that other notebooks wereused for entries but that these either nolonger exist or are unavailable. Finally, aswork increasingly shifted to the MelbourneMint in Australia during the 1920s, entriesbecome sparser as the Royal Mint inLondon performed only a distantsupporting role. For this part of the story, aseries of articles based on Australian mintrecords by John Sharples in this journal ishighly recommended.8–10

Unlike the case for the later pre-decimal bronze coinage of Australia,reverse dies for George V coins wereprepared well in advance of those for theobverse. Perhaps this is because, instead ofbeing prepared using a design based on alarge artist’s model transferred by areducing machine, reverse dies for the

penny and the halfpenny were directlyengraved by hand into die steel usingcutting tools with individual punches forlettering and other devices. EngravingDepartment records for this at the RoyalMint clearly show the halfpenny reversemaster die (or matrix) to have beenprepared first with the notation ‘Designedand engraved 17-9-1910 (WHJB)’ and thepenny reverse ‘Designed and engraved 4-10-1910 (WHJB)’. The initials areclearly those of William Henry JamesBlakemore, for whom an excellent shortbiography by T. Vincent Verheyen hasrecently appeared.11 It is significant (andsomewhat unusual) that both the design andengraving has been directly attributed tohim in the records, since as a general rule Royal Mint engravers operatedanonymously.

Mint records show that the letterpunches Blakemore employed for thehalfpenny reverse die were the same as thoseused in producing master die legends forsome of the coinage of Queen Victoria. Forexample, the lettering used for ONE HALFPENNY is the same as that used on thereverse of the ‘old head’ half crown, and forCOMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA,the same as that on the obverse of the goldtwo pound piece. For the penny, letterpunches for ONE PENNY were speciallymade by the firm of Walbank, while thelettering for COMMONWEALTH OFAUSTRALIA is from the obverse of thegold five pound piece of Queen Victoria. Anordinary coining table (surface curvature)was used for the die.

The original obverse master dies forthe Australian bronze were not prepareduntil early 1911. Here, the portrait on thepenny obverse was first produced from

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Paul M Holland

Model A (a large relief model of George Vwith crown by Sir Edgar BertramMackennal) on 17 March using a reducingmachine in normal relief. Lettering for thelegend employed the same letter punchesused for the new George V Imperial pennywith the master die completed on 29 March. The lettering closely resemblesthat on Edward VII pennies but withdistinctly rounded letters O, G, and D.Since this is perhaps the most extensiveentry, we provide the full description fromthe mint records as an example of the typeof information recorded:

A reduction was made from Model A,relief normal and table cut considerablyaway to allow of matrix being tabled.Marked “AUST. PENNY. A.” 17-3-11mark on Orb (small sketch) Size overall 24.5 mm. Size without crossand Orb 22.5 mm. A matrix made andworked up table fairly full - rather up anddown. Beads in Crown worked up and -also Orb. Inscription “Georgius V D.G.Britt: Omn: Rex F.D. IND.IMP.” lettersused “K.G. Penny” with round O.G.D. etcas in Imperial Penny - Bead PunchMarked “Long K. G. Penny” Matrixmarked “AUST. PENNY. A.1.” 29-3-11Size as Imperial overall 1.21” Inside flat1.16” Inside Bead 1.11” Inside Head .97”.

The halfpenny obverse was alsoprepared using a reduction punch madefrom Model A in normal relief (20 March),along with lettering from the new GeorgeV Imperial halfpenny. A line runningthrough the hair was noted for removalalong with other areas to be strengthened,with the obverse master die beingcompleted on 3 April.

In the Tables that follow, informationon halfpennies is listed beginning with thedate of the die or tool (where known) alongwith notes which briefly summarize theinformation from the mint records. Forpennies, since several different obverseand reverse master die types exist, a thirdcolumn appended to the tables shows thedie type based on the author’s analysis.Here, a number is used to indicate which ofthe two different types of obverses (e.g.Obv 1 or Obv 2) is being described, orletter for the three different types ofreverses (Rev A, B or C).

We begin with tools for the halfpenny,listed below in Table 1. This shows that theH used for the mintmark for Heaton camefrom the small motto block (i.e. first letterof HONI in the motto of the Order of theGarter). In addition to the original 1911dated reverse punch, dated punches weredeveloped for 1912-H, 1913, 1914-H and1915-H. A dated die for 1914 is alsoshown. It should be noted that 1915-Hdated punches were not made until mid-October, and since working dies stillneeded to be produced, this may helpexplain the observed scarcity of 1915-Hhalfpennies.

A summary listing of penny mastertools for the London and Heaton mints for1911–1915 is presented below in Table 2.Of special note is the changeover fromreverse type A in 1911 to B for 1912 andsubsequent years. The question of whymaster tools for a second penny reverse dietype came to be fabricated only one yearafter its introduction in 1911 was perhapsfirst raised by John Sharples in volume 6 ofthis Journal who indicated that this was a‘problem which requires access to theRoyal Mint archives for its solution’.10 The

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Master dies and tools from the Royal Mint for Australian pennies and halfpennies of George V

relevant entry in the records whichaddresses this states:

New matrix made for 1912. Edge andbeads taken from punch on account ofdistortion in hardening (guttering) andreplaced as before in matrix, letteringtouched up and dated 1912.

Although a new penny master dietype was produced, it now appears that

there was no special plan to do so. Theapparent reason for this was simply thatthere were problems encountered inhardening a punch taken from the originalmaster die in producing the derivativemaster die dated 1912 for the Heaton mintin Birmingham. This was addressed by theexpedient of simply removing thedefective beads and edge (presumably bygrinding), and using this punch to producea new matrix (master die), but now with

Date

17 Sept 1910

20 March 1911

3 April 1911

5 April 1911

19 Feb 1912

21 Feb 1912

1 March 1912

3 March 1913

12 March 1913

4 Feb 1914

6 Feb 1914

6 Oct 1915

18 Oct 1915

Notes

Halfpenny reverse master die designed and engraved by WHJB, marked ‘17-9-1910’.Inscription, ‘Commonwealth of Australia 1911’.

Halfpenny obverse reduction punch made from Model A. Relief normal, marked ‘AUST.HALFPENNY B. 20-3-11’.

Halfpenny obverse master die from reduction punch with beads and lettering added,marked ‘AUST. HALFPENNY B. 3-4-11’.

Halfpenny obverse punch from master die (Huntsman) marked ‘Aust. Halfpenny. B .1. A 5-4-11’.

Halfpenny obverse punch from master die (Bohler) marked ‘Aust. Halfpenny. B.1.B. 19-2-12’ (this was spare punch intended for Heaton for 1912 dies).

New halfpenny reverse die for 1912; small H for Heaton placed under dash and above ringof dots (H from small block motto).

Halfpenny reverse punch dated 1912 made from punch dated 21-2-12.

New halfpenny reverse die for 1913 made from punch dated 21-11-10. Worked up anddated 1913- marked ‘AUST. HALFPENNY REV 3-3-13’.

Two halfpenny reverse punches worked up from this die, marked respectively, ‘12-3-13 A’,and, ‘12-3-13 B’.

New halfpenny reverse die for 1914, marked ‘½D AUST - (HEATONS) 4-2-14’.

Two halfpenny reverse punches made with H for Heaton marked respectively, ‘½D AUST.A’, and, ‘½D AUST. B 6-2-14’.

New halfpenny reverse derivative master die 1915; H added for Heaton. Marked ‘AUST.HALFPENNY (H) 6-10-15’.

Two halfpenny reverse punches made with H for Heaton marked respectively, ‘½D AUST.(H) A’, and, ‘½D AUST. (H) B 18-10-15’.

Table 1. Halfpenny master tools for the London and Heaton Mints 1911–1915

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Paul M Holland

the addition of 177 border beads in placeof the 174 that were on the original reversemaster die. This new reverse die type hasbeen labelled as the ‘Birmingham’ type orReverse B. The view that this is an‘accidental’ die type is re-enforced by theidentical language in the records for thefollowing year stating—New matrix madefor 1913 (i.e. routine production ofanother dated derivative master die, butthis one now derived from the new reverseof 1912). However, this can be viewed as

a very successful accident since this dietype became the standard reverse die forall pennies from 1912–1915, for 13 of the26 years that George V pennies werestruck, including the final coinage yearsfrom 1932–1936.

The records also show that in additionto an original 1911 dated reverse punch,dated punches were made for 1912-H, 1913and 1915-H. While dated dies for 1914 and1915 are shown, notation is unusuallysparse and no dates for the tools are given.

Date

4 Oct 1910

17 March 1911

29 March 1911

1 April 1911

19 Feb 1912

22 Feb 1912

1 March 1912

22 Feb 1913

12 March 1913

?

?

6 Oct 1915

19 Oct 1915

Notes

Penny reverse master die designed and engraved by WHJB, marked ‘4-10-1910’.

Penny obverse reduction punch made from Model A; relief normal, marked‘AUST. PENNY. A. 17-3-11’.

Penny obverse master die from reduction punch with beads and lettering added,marked ‘AUST. PENNY. A.1. 29-3-11’.

Penny obverse punch from master die (Huntsman) marked ‘Aust. Penny. A.1.A1-4-11’.

Penny obverse punch from master die (Bohler) marked ‘Aust. Penny. A.1.B19-2-12’ (this was a spare punch intended for Heaton for 1912 dies).

New penny reverse master die for 1912, with edge and beads removed from punchon account of distortion in hardening and replaced, lettering touched up and dated,1912; small H for Heaton placed under ornament. Matrix marked ‘22-2-12’.

Penny reverse punch from master die of 22 Feb 1912 marked ‘1-3-12’.

New penny reverse die for 1913 marked ‘22-2-13’.

Two penny reverse punches marked respectively, ‘12-3-13 A’, and ,’12-3-13 B’.

Penny reverse master die for 1914.

Dies dated for 1915 (with notation that this uses new 5).

New penny reverse die with H for Heaton, as before marked ‘AUST. PENNY(H) 6-10-15’.

Two penny reverse punches for Heaton marked respectively, ‘AUST. PENNY.H. A. 19-10-15’, and, ‘AUST. PENNY. H. B. 19-10-15’.

Type

Rev A

Obv 1

Obv 1

Obv 1

Rev B

Rev B

Rev B

Rev B

Rev B

Rev B

Rev B

Rev B

Table 2. Penny master tools for the London and Heaton Mints for 1911–1915 Coins.

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Master dies and tools from the Royal Mint for Australian pennies and halfpennies of George V

Because of the hazards of seatransport during the First World War, war-time production of the bronze coinage forAustralia was transferred to the mint inCalcutta. The listing of halfpenny mastertools for this in Table 3 indicates that thepunch used for the mintmark letter I (forIndia) came from the obverse legend of theEdward VII Maundy penny. Because thereare no changes of die type, it is ofnumismatic interest mainly in that it showsthat fully dated and mintmarked tools were

created for 1916. The lack of entries for1917 and 1918 halfpennies suggests thatthe dies for these were apparentlyproduced in Calcutta from the 1916 toolsthat were already mintmarked. This wouldseem to be confirmed by the observationthat no variations in date or mintmarkposition are seen on these coins.

The remarkable feature of Table 4,which shows penny master toolsdeveloped for the Calcutta Mint, is theintroduction of new penny obverse and

Date

29 March 1916

7 April 1916

1 May 1916

30 May 1916

Notes

New halfpenny reverse derivative master die for 1916, dated with letter I for India (from K.E.penny Maundy) in place of H- position as H marked. ‘½D AUST. (I) 29-3-16’.

Two halfpenny reverse punches worked up 7-4-16, marked respectively ‘½D AUST.REV. (I) AROYAL MINT LONDON 1916’, and, ‘½D AUST.REV. (I) B ROYAL MINT LONDON 1916’.

Two further halfpenny obverse punches were made to replace punches sent to Indiamarked respectively, ‘½D Aust.B.1.C’, and, ‘½D Aust.B.1.D 1-5-16’.

Two halfpenny obverse punches marked C and D (1-5-16) broke in hardening; two morewere made, marked respectively, ‘½D AUST.B.1.E’, and, ‘½D Aust.B.1.F 30-5-16’.

Table 3. Halfpenny master tools for the Calcutta Mint 1916.

Date

15 March 1916

29 March 1916

31 March 1916

1916

Notes

New penny obverse master die made exactly as the first but to suit the newreverse matrix, marked ‘AUST. PENNY. A.2 15-3-16’.

New penny reverse master die made from punch (beads ground away) dated1916 and marked ‘1D.AUST - (I) FLATTER FORM 29-3-16’. Letter I for Indiaplaced above dots, I from K.E. Maundy Penny.

Two penny obverse master punches made and marked respectively, ‘Aust.Penny. A .2. A’, and, ‘Aust. Penny. A .2. B. ROYAL MINT LONDON - 1916’(31-3-16). One to go to India.

Two penny reverse master punches made and marked respectively, ‘AUST.PENNY. (I) A. ROYAL MINT LONDON 1916’, and, ‘AUST. PENNY. (I) B.ROYAL MINT LONDON 1916’.

Type

Obv 2

Rev C

Obv 2

Rev C

Table 4. Penny master tools for the Calcutta Mint 1916.

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reverse types. The question of why newIndian obverse and Calcutta reverse pennydie types were introduced in 1916, whenthe original types should have sufficed,was raised by John Sharples in volume 6 ofthis Journal.10 It is now clear that the Indianobverse master die (Obverse 2) was in factdeliberately produced by the Royal Mint tomatch a new reverse die with a flattertable. The record for this reverse die states:

A new matrix was made from punch(beads ground away) and a flatter tablewas made dated 1916 and work deepened- marked “1D.AUST - (I) FLATTERFORM 29-3-16”.Letter I for India placed above dots,position as H for Heatons, I from K.E.Penny Maundy.

After the punch was used, 179 borderbeads were added to the die, making itpossible to readily distinguish it as a newreverse die type. This has been labeled asthe Calcutta type or Reverse C. The so-called Indian obverse die with 178 insteadof 177 border beads was also deliberatelyproduced in order to match the flatter tableof the Calcutta reverse, as stated in therecords:

A second matrix was made details sizeetc. exactly as the first - but table lessround to suit the new reverse matrix -marked “AUST. PENNY. A.2 15-3-16”

It is now clear that the new obverseand reverse master dies associated with themint in Calcutta were introduced to allowstriking pennies using a flatter table.Curiously, the dates in the records showthe obverse die as being dated two weeksbefore the reverse, rather than the other

way round. Nonetheless, the Indianobverse die has played an important role inAustralian numismatics, especially sincethe remaining tools and dies from Calcuttawere later sent to Melbourne in 1920, withthe Indian obverse die eventually emergingas a key identifying feature for the 1930penny.

Finally, it can be seen that Table 4 forpenny master tools resembles that of Table 3 for the halfpennies. Of numismaticinterest, the production of fully dated andmintmarked tools for 1916 demonstratesthat the long-known 1916 missingmintmark penny must simply be due to afilled die. As for the halfpennies, it alsoseems clear that the dies for 1917 and 1918pennies would have been produced inCalcutta from the 1916 tools, as confirmedby the lack of observation of variations indate or mintmark position on these coins.

With the completion of the mastertools for Calcutta, all of the differentGeorge V penny die types had beencreated. These include two differentobverses, the so-called English die (Obv 1)and Indian die (Obv 2), which can beeasily identified by the alignment of thefinal upright of the N of OMN with borderbeads as shown in Figures 2 and 3.

There are three different reverse dietypes. These include the London die (RevA), Birmingham die (Rev B) and Calcuttadie (Rev C), which can be distinguished bythe relative position of the letters ALIA ofAUSTRALIA with border beads as shownin Figures 4–6.

Halfpenny master tools for theMelbourne Mint 1921–1930 are listed inTable 5. This includes new obverse and1922 dated reverse tools made in late 1921.The following year new 1923 dated reverseand obverse master dies were produced for

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Master dies and tools from the Royal Mint for Australian pennies and halfpennies of George V

Melbourne using punches from 1916. Itseems likely that one of the punches fromthis 1923 dated halfpenny master die wasemployed on September 20, 1923 inMelbourne to prepare three dies forstriking the rare 1923 halfpennies.8 Thefinal items listed are a new reverse masterdie and punch dated 193- , designed to aid1930s die production at the MelbourneMint.

Penny master tools for Australia for1920–1930 from Engraving Departmentrecords are shown in Table 6. In discussing

Figure 2. Obverse 1 is the ‘English’ die, easilyidentified by the last stroke of the N of OMN beingaligned between border beads, of which there are177. This is the original penny obverse die of theseries used at the London, Heaton, Melbourne andSydney Mints.

Figure 3. Obverse 2 is the ‘Indian’ die, easilyidentified by the last stroke of the N of OMNpointing to a border bead. This penny obverse diewas used at the Calcutta, Melbourne, Sydney andPerth mints. There are 178 border beads.

Figure 5. Reverse B is the ‘Birmingham’ die, andcan be distinguished by the relative position of theletters ALIA of AUSTRALIA with border beads,with the tops of A IA aligned with and L betweenbeads. Reverse B was used at the Heaton, London,Melbourne, Sydney and Perth mints, and has 177border beads.

Figure 4. Reverse A is the ‘London’ die, and can bedistinguished by the relative position of the lettersALIA of AUSTRALIA with border beads, with thetops of the letters AL aligned with and IA betweenbeads. This is the original penny Reverse die of theseries used at the London, Melbourne and Sydneymints, and has 174 border beads.

Figure 6. Reverse C is the ‘Calcutta’ die, and can bedistinguished by the relative position of the lettersALIA of AUSTRALIA with border beads, with thetops of A IA aligned between and L with beads.Reverse C was used at the Calcutta, Melbourne andSydney mints, and has 179 border beads.

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Table 6, reference to the summary listingof George V penny die pairings in Table 7which follows is especially helpful inunderstanding the numismatic complexityof these coins. This lists the normal diepairings by year(s) along with any varietydie pairings with a relative rarity estimate(S = scarce, R = rare and ER = extremelyrare), followed by brief clarifyingcomments (note: that 1931 has 4 diepairings, shown in two rows). An overallexamination of Table 7 shows numerous

die pairing varieties from 1920 through1931, all made possible by the three newdie types originally introduced in 1912 and1916. Detailed discussion of the diepairings shown in Table 7 is availableelsewhere.6, 8, 10

In examining Table 6 it should bepointed out that no penny or halfpennymaster tools for 1919 or tools and dies sentdirectly to Melbourne from Calcuttaappear in the Engraving Departmentrecords. Here, the records simply jump

Date

23 Nov 1921

29 Nov 1921

2 Dec 1921

2 Dec 1921

9 Sept 1922

12 Sept 1922

21 Aug 1930

9 Sept 1930

Notes

Halfpenny reverse master die dated 1922 made and marked ‘AUST. HALFPENNY. REV.MAT. 23-11-21’.

Halfpenny obverse punch made up and marked ‘½D AUST.B.1.G. 29-11-21. ROYALMINT LONDON 1921’.

Two halfpenny reverse punches marked respectively (2-12-21), ‘AUST. ½D. REV. A ROYALMINT LONDON 1921’, and, ‘AUST. ½D. REV. B ROYAL MINT LONDON 1921’.

Halfpenny obverse punch made up and marked ‘½D AUST.B.1.H” 2-12-21 ROYALMINT LONDON 1921’.

Halfpenny reverse master die dated 1923 made for the Melbourne table, full size inside flat0.96” as obverse, marked ‘AUST. HALFPENNY. REV. MAT. ROYAL MINT LONDON1922’; made from punch marked (I) B Royal Mint London 1916.

Two halfpenny reverse punches worked up and marked respectively, ‘AUST.HALFPENNY. REV. A ROYAL MINT LONDON 1922’, and, ‘AUST. HALFPENNY.REV. B ROYAL MINT LONDON 1922’.

Halfpenny obverse master die made for Melbourne from punch marked ‘½D AUST.B.1.E30-5-16’, with new master die marked ‘AUST. HALFPENNY OBV MAT. 12-9-22ROYAL MINT LONDON 1922.’

Two halfpenny obverse punches worked up and marked respectively, ‘AUST.HALFPENNY. OBV. A ROYAL MINT LONDON 1922’, and, ‘AUST. HALFPENNY.OBV. B ROYAL MINT LONDON 1922’.

Halfpenny reverse master die dated 193- and marked ‘AUST. HALFPENNY. REV. MAT.21-8-30’.

Reverse punch made for Australia, dated 193- and marked ‘AUST. HALFPENNY. REV.A. 9-9-30 TOWER’.

Table 5. Halfpenny master tools for the Melbourne Mint 1921–1930

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Master dies and tools from the Royal Mint for Australian pennies and halfpennies of George V

from 1916 to 1920 on the same page (1916to 1921 in the case of the halfpennies).While this is understandable in the case ofCalcutta, why no 1919 tools are listedseems surprising. Fortunately, otherrecords from the Melbourne Mint

summarized by John Sharples help addressthis gap showing several batches ofObverse 1 and Reverse B dies beingreceived from London during 1919, but notools10, perhaps explaining the observedgap in the Engraving Department records.

Table 6. Penny master tools for the Melbourne Mint 1920–1930

Date

1 Dec 1920

8 Dec 1920

22 Sept 1921

25 Sept 1921

1 Oct 1921

14 Oct 1921

12 Sept 1922

12 Sept 1922

3 Oct 1922

18 Oct 1922

13 Aug 1930

11 Sept 1930

Notes

Penny reverse master die dated 1921 marked ‘AUST. PENNY. REV. 1-12-20’.

Penny reverse punches marked for Australia (8-12-20) ‘AUST. PENNY. REV.A. ROYAL MINT LONDON 1921’.

Penny reverse master die dated 1922 marked ‘AUST. PENNY. REV. MAT. 22-9-21’.

Two penny obverse punches worked up and marked respectively (25-9-21),‘AUST. PENNY. A.2.C. ROYAL MINT LONDON - 1921’, and, ‘AUST.PENNY. A.2.D. ROYAL MINT LONDON - 1921’.

Two penny reverse punches dated 1922 marked respectively (1-10-21), ‘AUST.PENN. REV. A. ROYAL MINT LONDON 1921’, and, ‘AUST. PENN. REV. B.ROYAL MINT LONDON 1921.’

Penny obverse punch marked ‘AUST. PENNY. A.2.E. ROYAL MINT LONDON -1921. 14-10.21’.

New penny obverse master die to go to Melbourne with new series of matricesasked for. Matrix worked up and marked ‘12-9-22 AUST. PENNY OBV MATROYAL MINT LONDON 1922’.

New penny reverse master die for Melbourne—to make this we went back to theoriginal (4-10-1910) to get full edged table. Two punches were made: full datecut away 1 marked ‘AUST. PEN. REV.MAT.FROM ORIGINAL MAT. 12-9-22’. Matrix from above punch worked up and dated 1923, marked ‘AUST.PENNY. REV. MAT. ROYAL MINT LONDON 1922’ (replaced).

Two penny obverse punches worked up and marked respectively (3-10-22),‘AUST. PENNY OBV A ROYAL MINT LONDON 1922’ ,and, ‘AUST. PENNYOBV B ROYAL MINT LONDON 1922’.

Two penny reverse punches dated 1923 and marked respectively (18-10-22),‘AUST. PENN. REV. A. ROYAL MINT LONDON’, and, ‘AUST. PENN. REV.B. ROYAL MINT LONDON’.

A penny reverse master die was made and dated 193- only for punches for Australiaworked up as usual and marked ‘AUST. PENNY. REV. MAT. 13-8-30 TOWER’.

Penny reverse punch dated 193- and marked ‘AUST. PENNY. REV. A. 11-9-30TOWER’.

Type

Rev B

Rev B

Rev B

Obv 1

Rev B

Obv 1

Obv 1

Rev A

Obv 1

Rev A

Rev A

Rev A

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Paul M Holland

The production of 1920 pennies dependedon the remaining Obverse 2 and Reverse Ctools and dies sent to Melbourne fromCalcutta. This situation was likely due tothe reluctance of Melbourne Mint to order(and pay for) new bronze coinage toolswhen the expectation was that a new nickelcoinage would be adopted.

The initial entries in Table 6 show a1921 dated reverse B die and puncheswhich were made in December 1920 inresponse to an urgent telegraphed requeston 24 November from the Melbourne Mintto London ‘Owing delay approving nickelpair bronze penny punches requiredurgently’.10 No obverse penny tools weresupplied. This may help explain why thenormal die pairing for 1921 pennies isreverse B paired with Obverse 2 dies from

Calcutta. Eventually, of course theproposed nickel coinage was abandoned,and it was necessary for the MelbourneMint to order new bronze coinage tools.These included master dies and punchesfor Obverse 1 and Reverse B dated 1922that were fabricated in September andOctober 1921.

Among the most interesting tools arethose made the following year, when theRoyal Mint reverted to the original 1911Reverse A design for 1923 dated pennies.Why this occurred has long been unknown,and was perhaps first raised in 1992 byJohn Sharples in volume 6 of this Journalwhere he says:

To make life interesting, while the 1922hubs had been derived in London from

Year(s)

19111912–151916-181919192019211922192319241925-2619271928192919301931

1932-36

Die Pairing

1 + A1 + B2 + C1 + B2 + C, 1 + C (R)2 + B, 1 + B (R)1 + B, 2 + B (S)1 + A1 + A, 2 + A (R)1 + A1 + A, 2 + A (R)1 + A1 + A, 2 + A (S)2 + A1 + A, 2 + A (ER)1 + B, 2 + B (R)1 + B

Comment

1912-H, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1915-HAll I mintmarkDot varieties existDot varieties existObv 1 are Melb MintObv 2 are Perth Mint

Obv 2 are Sydney Mint

Obv 1 reportedDropped 1 type

1933/2 overdate exists

Table 7. Summary listing of George V Australian penny die pairings.

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Master dies and tools from the Royal Mint for Australian pennies and halfpennies of George V

the “Birmingham” masters, this newissue was for some reason based on theoriginal 1911 “London” master dieform.10

The answer, it seems, is once againrevealed by Engraving Department recordsthat show:

Rev. Mat. For Melbourne - to makethis we went back to the original mat(4-10-1910) to get full edged table.

Thus, it appears the reason the mintwent back to the original master die of 1911was to have a wider table to work with thanthat on Reverse B, resulting in Reverse Atools being re-introduced. This revival ofReverse A, along with the Calcutta Mintearlier sending their remaining stock ofObverse 2 and Reverse C tools and dies toMelbourne, created a situation where allfive different George V penny die typeswere available at various times during theperiod from 1920 to 1931. As can be seenin Table 7, this situation has greatlyenhanced the numismatic complexity ofAustralian pennies.

The re-introduced Reverse A die typewas later used for the 1930 penny. One ofthe pleasant surprises during this researchwas the discovery in the records of aninked impression of the penny reversemaster die used to prepare 193- datedpunches for Australia on 11 September1930. This is shown in Figure 1. Inspectionshows this is Reverse A, with carefulexamination of the orientation of thenumeral 3 making it clear that thesepunches could not have been used for the1930 penny, a result consistent withprevious work by John Sharples whichshows a date of 13 August 1930 for the last

batch of 1930 penny dies from theMelbourne Mint’s workshop.9 However,close study of the inked impressionsuggests that the 193- punches from theRoyal Mint (London) were used in makingdies for 1931 ‘dropped 1’ pennies, whichwere the last Australian pennies to employReverse A.

Unfortunately, the available RoyalMint Engraving Department recordsreported here do not go beyond 1930 forGeorge V bronze coinage. However, weknow from direct numismatic observationthat a changeover to Reverse B occurredduring the final years, beginning with‘normal date’ 1931 pennies, and later withthe die pairing combination for penniesbecoming exclusively Obverse 1 andReverse B from 1932–36. The observationof the inked die impression of pennyreverse A from August 1930 shows that themaster tools shown in Table 6 could nothave been used to produce reverse B diesfor subsequent George V pennies throughto 1936. However, it is important to notethat according to John Sharples,Melbourne mint records show that only193- dated punches were sent, arriving on7 November 1930. The halfpenny punchfailed on December 24, and the MelbourneMint then sent for a new set of tools, thistime master dies.9 There is importantadditional information on this period at theMelbourne Mint published by W. J.Mullett, that shows a 193- dated pennypunch was received on 7 November 1930from which a master die was made with theaddition of a final date numeral 1, and thatit was then used to produce a 1931 datedpenny punch on January 22, 1931.12, p.17 Thisclearly accounts for the 1931 ‘dropped 1’pennies with reverse A. Mullett alsoreports that a new penny master die dated

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Paul M Holland

193- was received from London on 18 March 1931, with the records showingthat six 1931 penny reverse dies ‘offMelbourne Hub off LMD 193’ wereproduced based on this London master dieon 17 August 1931, although he argues thatthis must be in error since the master diewas supplied hardened.12, pp.18,19 We wouldnow argue that the original notation in theMelbourne Mint records is in fact correct,clearly showing that a derivative 1931dated punch (hub) had been prepared usingthe new 193- dated master die fromLondon, although requiring theintermediate step of a fully dated die.Furthermore we infer that this new masterdie must have been of the penny reverse Btype, with the Melbourne produced punchcorresponding to ‘normal date’ 1931pennies. This interpretation would accountfor the changeover in the penny reversefrom A to B during 1931 and the use ofreverse B on all George V pennies from1932–36.

Besides a basic understanding of thedevelopment of master tools and diepairings for George V bronze coinage, it ispossible to consider variations in theworking dies produced. For example, theEngraving Department records aresufficiently detailed for it to be relativelystraightforward to attempt to correlatethese with observations of the variation ofdate numeral positions on bronze coinsproduced from 1911 through 1918.Beginning in 1919, analysis of datenumeral positions becomes much morecomplicated and is beyond the scope ofthis article.

In the case of the halfpennies from1911–18 only the 1913 coin has been notedas having date numeral variations. 4, 5, 13 Thisis generally consistent with Engraving

Department records that show dated (andmintmarked) punches were prepared for allyears from 1911–1916, except 1914 wherea dated die is shown. The observation that1913 halfpennies exhibit date numeralvariations indicates that some dies wereindividually dated, with Dean showingphotographs of three different configura-tions. The question then becomes whetherit might be possible to determine which ofthese arose from a fully dated punch. Here,a survey of coins to look for the mostplentiful date type might be used, coupledwith examination to determine whethermore than one individual working die wasused for each date type. This would likelyrequire a large sample in good enoughcondition that die markers such as diecracks or die doubling can be identified. Itshould be noted that for this purpose diecracks provide especially distinctive‘fingerprints’.

For pennies of 1911–18, the situationappears more complicated, with datevariations observed for 1913, 1914 and1915 coins.5, 13 In this case, the records againshow dated punches for all years from1911–16, except 1914 and 1915 wheredated dies are reported. A similar procedureto that suggested for the 1913 halfpennymay be followed in order to identify whichobserved date configurations might havearisen from fully dated mint tools. It isinteresting to note that only penniesproduced at the Royal Mint show evidencefor individual dating, this being aninstitution where dating coinage dies was probably routine. In contrast, theevidence suggests that dies for all of themintmarked bronze coins were producedfrom fully dated tools, likely includingderivative tools made at the Calcutta Mintfor 1917 and 1918.

JNAA 20, 2009(2010) 57

Master dies and tools from the Royal Mint for Australian pennies and halfpennies of George V

It should be pointed out that the earlyCommonwealth coinage of Australiaremains an active area for numismaticresearch, as shown by several very recentarticles published in The Australasian Coin& Banknote Magazine. These include thedetailed biographical article on Blakemoreby T. Vincent Verheyen11, and a series ofarticles by Jon Saxton.13,14 In numismatics itis often the ‘why’ questions that are themost fascinating, and much of themotivation for this article has been to helpaddress such questions and provide contextfor understanding these fascinating coins.

AcknowledgementsThe author would like to express

special appreciation to Mr G P Dyer,formerly Curator and Librarian, RoyalMint, for supplying copies of EngravingDepartment records crucial to this study,and to Professor Peter P Gaspar forsupplying information for reference 7.

References1. Holland, Paul M. ‘Variation of die types of

Australian pennies: 1937–1964’, JNAA, vol. 8,1995, 1–14.

2. Holland, Paul M. ‘Master die types of Australianhalfpennies’, JNAA, vol. 9, 1998, 6–22.

3. Personal Communication, Mr. G. P. Dyer,formerly Curator and Librarian, Royal Mint,concerning Royal Mint Engraving Departmentrecords related to Australian bronze coinage.

4. Dean, John Australian coin varieties catalogue,1st ed., Hawthorn, Melbourne, 1964.

5. Clarke, Robert L. The coins and tokens of BritishOceania, 5th ed., Malter-Westerfield PublishingCompany, Inc., San Clemente, California, 1971.

6. Holland, Paul M. ‘Australian penny varieties: Anew classification scheme’, JANS, 1993, 14–27.

7. Pettiford, P. H. ‘Notes on the coining processesfor Royal Mint apprentices’, The Royal Mint,London, 1952, 13.

8. Sharples, John ‘Australian coinage 1919–1924’,JNAA, vol. 1, 1985, 4–18.

9. Sharples, John ‘The 1930 penny’, JNAA, vol. 3,1987, 3–11.

10.Sharples, John ‘Penny reverse master dies ofGeorge V’, JNAA, vol. 6, 1992, 21–29.

11.Verheyen, T. Vincent ‘The engraver: WilliamHenry James Blakemore (1871–1945)’, TheAustralasian Coin & Banknote Magazine, June2009, 6–51.

12.Mullett, William John. Australian coinage: Anaccount of particular coins, the author, Chifley,ACT, 1991, pp 33. ISBN 0 646 03399 9.

13.Saxton, Jon ‘Die variations in earlyCommonwealth coinage Part 1’, The AustralasianCoin & Banknote Magazine, May 2009, 44–49.

14.Saxton, Jon ‘Die variations in earlyCommonwealth coinage Part 4’, The AustralasianCoin & Banknote Magazine, March 2010, 10–12.

Paul Holland has collected andstudied die varieties of British andAustralian pre-decimal bronze coinage formore than 20 years. He is a member of theAustralian Numismatic Society and theBritish Numismatic Society, and hasauthored a number of articles published inthis journal and elsewhere. Hisbackground includes a PhD in physicalchemistry and an MSc in oceanography.He is president of Thorleaf Research, Inc.,a company he founded to developminiaturized instrumentation foroceanographic and space flightmeasurements, with much of this workfunded by NASA.pholland@thorleaf.com