au-sovereign-1921-m
different-basis 239,895 pieces
Two readings of the same year's Melbourne gold, on different bases. The branch gold table gives 240,121 as coin ISSUED during the year, read positionally from a table the transcription flattens. The report's prose gives 239,895 as the year's COINAGE, and that sentence checks itself against the dies used. They differ by -226 pieces (-0.09%), 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 240,121 | Melbourne | issuedpositional reading | Reports of the Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, branch mint gold coinage tables
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 consisted |
| 239,895 | 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 1921 has amounted to 2398951., all in sovereigns, there being no gold coined in the December half-year. The number of dies used was six giving an average of 80,000 £239,895 at 1 sovereign per pound; the report's own arithmetic closes: £239,895 / 3 pairs of dies = 80,000 pieces per pair, the figure it prints Die life. 6 dies, 3 pairs, 80,000 pieces struck per pair. The pounds figure is damaged in the scan; this is the only reading that closes. |
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.