au-sovereign-1920-m
different-basis 529,844 pieces
Two readings of the same year's Melbourne gold, on different bases. The branch gold table gives 530,266 as coin ISSUED during the year, read positionally from a table the transcription flattens. The report's prose gives 529,844 as the year's COINAGE, and that sentence checks itself against the dies used. They differ by -422 pieces (-0.08%), which is too small to be a misreading and is what coining and issuing differ by. Both are kept; the coinage figure carries the stronger evidence.
| Figure | Mint | What was counted | Source, and its own words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 530,266 | Melbourne | issuedpositional reading | Reports of the Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, branch mint gold coinage tables
da were as follows :— Branch. 1920. 1921. £ 75 Sydney 360,000 839,000 Melbourne 530,266 240,121 Perth 2,474,404 2,314,360 Ottawa 4 136 Totals 3,364,674) 3,393,617 The whole of these issues c |
| 529,844 | Melbourne | struck-in-report-yearchecksum confirmed | Reports of the Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, Melbourne branch, annual gold coinage and die life statements
gold coinage for 1920 amounted to 529,844l., all in sovereigns. The number of dies used has been 12, giving a production of 88,307 £529,844 at 1 sovereign per pound; the report's own arithmetic closes: £529,844 / 6 pairs of dies = 88,307 pieces per pair, the figure it prints Die life. 12 dies, 6 pairs, 88,307 pieces struck per pair |
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.