au-sovereign-1929-m
different-basis 436,065 pieces
Two readings of the same year's Melbourne gold, on different bases. The branch gold table gives 436,719 as coin ISSUED during the year, read positionally from a table the transcription flattens. The report's prose gives 436,065 as the year's COINAGE, and that sentence checks itself against the dies used. They differ by -654 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 436,719 | Melbourne | issuedpositional reading | Reports of the Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, branch mint gold coinage tables
iven :— BranCh- ' ' Mean of 10 £ 15 —-—— 1928. 1929. years, | Melbourne 413,208 436,719 1919-1928. ” Perth 1,333,417 1,606.625 Imperial : Ottawa... Nil‘ Nil' Gold Nil. Nil. 352,043 Silver 72 |
| 436,065 | 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 1929 has amounted to 4136,0651. all in sovereigns. The number of dies used was 21, giving an average of 41,530 £436,065 at 1 sovereign per pound; the report's own arithmetic closes: £436,065 / 10.5 pairs of dies = 41,530 pieces per pair, the figure it prints Die life. 21 dies, 10.5 pairs, 41,530 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.