au-halfpenny-1951
disputed 5,040,000 pieces
The reports carry 2 different figures for this coin, all tied to the date it bore: 3,000,000, 5,040,000. They come from different statements in different years and this catalogue does not choose between them. The figure shown above is the one a second, independent extraction also reached, or failing that the one whose arithmetic checks; every reading is listed with the words it came from.
| Figure | Mint | What was counted | Source, and its own words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3,000,000 | London | struck-dated | Reports of the Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Royal Mint, Australian branch sections
8,520,000 pence and 3,000,000 halfpence were struck in this Department. |
| 5,040,000 | Heaton | struck-dated | Reports of the Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Royal Mint, Australian branch sections
Iialfpence in bronze. The Mint, Birmingham, Ltd., struck 5,040,000 |
It does not tell you what the coin is worth. A catalogue can honestly report how many were struck, what metal is in one, and what the documents say. It cannot report a market price without either inventing it or copying someone who might have. So this catalogue reports the first three and stays quiet about the fourth.