Lot 1258

Description

New South Wales, five shillings or holey dollar, 1813, test strike from dies I/B on a 1799 copper halfpenny. The counterstamps clear and very similar to those on the holey dollar dated 1789 (Mira/Noble 1789/3) we sold in Sale 67 and now located at the museum of Sydney in the collection of the Historic Houses Trust from the Estate of the late Caroline Simpson. Good very fine, unpublished as a test strike and of the greatest historical significance.

Recently discovered in an old world collection this being the only Australian coin in the collection, simply described as a 'New South Wales coin'. The two countermark dies are struck at an upright or zero degrees axis to each other and at an angle of 45 degrees to the upright position of the original coin or matrix. This test was probably sanctioned by the military authority or the Governor as a striking without official government approval was a capital offence carrying the death sentence. This coin is without parallel as a completely unexpected discovery of the greatest historical significance. Its equivalent value if an ordinary to be currency issue would be four times the stated estimate, which may prove to be too conservative.