Australian coins / What have you got?

What have you got?

Pick the coin in your hand. You get what it is made of, how much fine metal is in it, how many were struck and on what basis, and what we do not know.

Step 1. Which kind of coin?

Weigh it

Every Australian coin has a weight fixed by law, and no two denominations share one closely enough to confuse if you also look at the colour. A kitchen scale reading to a tenth of a gram settles it. These are the statutory weights, not measured averages: a worn coin will read light.

Grams	Coin	Era	Fine metal	Diameter, as the Act states it	Instrument
1.41379	Threepence	pre-decimal	silver	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1947
2.59196	One cent	decimal	base metal	0.695 inches	Currency Act 1969 and Currency Regulations (Amendment) SR 1969 No. 137
2.60000	One cent	decimal	base metal	17.65 millimetres	Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21), as amended by SR 1988 No. 137
2.82523	Five cents	decimal	base metal	0.769 inches	Currency Act 1969 and Currency Regulations (Amendment) SR 1969 No. 137
2.82759	Sixpence	pre-decimal	silver	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1947
2.83000	Five cents	decimal	base metal	19.53 millimetres	Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21), as amended by SR 1988 No. 137
3.99402	Half sovereign	gold	gold	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 10)
5.18391	Two cents	decimal	base metal	0.855 inches	Currency Act 1969 and Currency Regulations (Amendment) SR 1969 No. 137
5.20000	Two cents	decimal	base metal	21.72 millimetres	Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21), as amended by SR 1988 No. 137
5.65000	Ten cents	decimal	base metal	23.72 millimetres	Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21), as amended by SR 1988 No. 137
5.65518	Shilling	pre-decimal	silver	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1947
5.65694	Ten cents	decimal	base metal	0.934 inches	Currency Act 1969 and Currency Regulations (Amendment) SR 1969 No. 137
5.66990	Halfpenny	pre-decimal	base metal	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1947
6.60000	Two dollars	decimal	base metal	20.62 millimetres	Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21), as amended by SR 1988 No. 137
7.98805	Sovereign	gold	gold	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 10)
9.00000	One dollar	decimal	base metal	25.12 millimetres	Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21), as amended by SR 1988 No. 137
9.44984	Penny	pre-decimal	base metal	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1947
11.3000	Twenty cents	decimal	base metal	28.65 millimetres	Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21), as amended by SR 1988 No. 137
11.3104	Florin	pre-decimal	silver	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1947
11.3139	Twenty cents	decimal	base metal	1.128 inches	Currency Act 1969 and Currency Regulations (Amendment) SR 1969 No. 137
13.2838	Fifty cents	decimal	silver	1.246 inches	Currency Act 1965 and Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21)
15.5500	Fifty cents	decimal	base metal	31.65 millimetres	Currency Regulations (SR 1966 No. 21), as amended by SR 1988 No. 137
15.5517	Fifty cents	decimal	base metal	1.246 inches	Currency Act 1969 and Currency Regulations (Amendment) SR 1969 No. 137
28.2759	Crown	pre-decimal	silver	not stated in the Act	Coinage Act 1947

The three near-collisions are deliberate. The florin and the twenty cents differ by 0.03 per cent, the shilling and the ten cents by 0.03 per cent, and the sixpence and the five cents by 0.08 per cent. The decimal coins were struck to the weights of the coins they replaced so that machines built for one would take the other. Colour tells them apart instantly: the pre-decimal ones are silver alloy, the decimal ones are not.

How much of the series is here

Pre-decimal coverage is thin, and you should know that before you trust a gap. The Royal Mint's reports count what a mint struck during a REPORT YEAR, not the date on the coin, and this catalogue refuses to convert one into the other. So a year missing from the list above means we have not sourced a coin of that date. It does not mean no such coin exists.

What this will not do

It will not tell you what your coin is worth. Mintage, metal and provenance can be stated from documents and checked. A market price cannot, so this catalogue does not print one. If you want a valuation, a dealer or an auction record is the honest place to look, and neither of them is us.