au-sovereign-1928-m
different-basis 413,820 pieces
Two readings of the same year's Melbourne gold, on different bases. The branch gold table gives 413,208 as coin ISSUED during the year, read positionally from a table the transcription flattens. The report's prose gives 413,820 as the year's COINAGE, and that sentence checks itself against the dies used. They differ by +612 pieces (0.15%), 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 413,208 | Melbourne | issuedpositional reading | Reports of the Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, branch mint gold coinage tables
and South Africa were as follows :— Branch. 1927. 1928. £ :6 Melbourne 310,156 413,208 Perth 1,383,544 1,333,417 Ottawa... Nil. \‘ Nil. Pretoria 15,942,530 18,768,964 Totals 17,636,230 20,5 |
| 413,820 | 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 1928 has amounted to 413,8201. all in sovereigns. The number of dies used was 18, giving an average of 45,980 £413,820 at 1 sovereign per pound; the report's own arithmetic closes: £413,820 / 9 pairs of dies = 45,980 pieces per pair, the figure it prints Die life. 18 dies, 9 pairs, 45,980 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.