Mints and Mintmarks - Perth Mint
Synopsis
Since 1871, British sovereigns were struck at branch mints, in addition to the Royal Mint in London. The first branch mint to strike sovereigns was Sydney in Australia. It made good sense to produce British sovereigns close to the gold mining source areas, rather than ship the gold to London to be made into coin, then possibly ship it back again.
In 1872, the Melbourne mint followed. The Perth, Australia mint started production of Perth Mint sovereigns in 1899, and the Ottawa mint in Canada started in 1908. The Bombay mint in India struck sovereigns in just one year, 1918, and the Pretoria mint in South Africa started production in 1923.
Mintmarks
The mintmarks used by the various mints are as follows:
Mint | Mintmark | First | Last |
London | None | 1817 | Date |
Sydney | S | 1871 | 1926 |
Melbourne | M | 1872 | 1931 |
Perth | P | 1899 | 1931 |
Ottawa | C | 1908 | 1919 |
Bombay | I | 1918 | 1918 |
Pretoria | SA | 1923 | 1932 |
The mintmarks are to be found on the ground above the centre of the date, at least for the Edward VII and George V sovereigns. Many collectors find the mintmarks very difficult to find at their first attempt, but it really is quite easy once you know where to look. It helps of course to use a magnifying glass!
Our photographs show a 1922 Perth Mint sovereign, and a close-up of the date and mintmark (pictures coming soon).
Perth Mint, Australia
The Australian Mint at Perth only struck gold sovereigns for 33 years from 1899 and 1931. Some of these are scarce, some rare.
Dates Produced
Perth Mint sovereigns were produced in the following years:
Date | Mintage |
1899 | 690.992 |
1900 | 1,886,089 |
1901 | 2,889,333 |
1902 | 4,289,122 |
1903 | 4,674,783 |
1904 | 4,506,756 |
1905 | 4,876,193 |
1906 | 4,829,817 |
1907 | 4,972,289 |
1908 | 4,875,617 |
1909 | 4,524,241 |
1910 | 4,690,625 |
1911 | 4,373,165 |
1912 | 4,278,144 |
1913 | 4,635,287 |
1914 | 4,815,996 |
1915 | 4,373,596 |
1916 | 4,096,721 |
1917 | 4,110,286 |
1918 | 3,812,884 |
1919 | 2,995,216 |
1920 | 2,421,196 |
1921 | 2,314,360 |
1922 | 2,298,884 |
1923 | 2,124,154 |
1924 | 1,464,416 |
1925 | 1,837,901 |
1926 | 1,313,578 |
1927 | 1,383,544 |
1928 | 1,333,417 |
1929 | 1,607,625 |
1930 | 1,915,352 |
1931 | 1,173,568 |
Total | 105,694,846 |
Rarity
The rarity of each date is not quite in proportion to the mintage figures. Many are thought to have been melted down, some dates being affected more than others. The first year 1899 is often believed to be rare, but is quite easy to find in lower grades. In top grades it is more difficult.
Australian Mintmark Sovereigns For Sale
Rather than duplicate our listing of sovereigns for sale, we include the Australian Mint sovereigns which we have for sale on their appropriate pages, being:
The Perth Mint Today
The Perth Mint is still very active today, even though it stopped striking British sovereigns in 1931. In fact nowadays it is one of the world's most active mints in both bullion and collectors coin, producing gold, silver, and platinum coins for its native Australia, and other countries.
In 2005, it produced a 150th anniversary sovereign commemorating the first Australian sovereigns issued in 1855 by the Sydney Mint.
As major bullion dealers, we are UK Prime Distributors for Perth Mint bullion coins including gold nuggets, gold Chinese lunar calendar coins, silver kookaburras, silver Chinese lunar calendar coins, and silver koalas.
Related Blog Articles
This guide and its content is copyright of Chard (1964) Ltd - © Chard (1964) Ltd 2024. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited.
We are not financial advisers and we would always recommend that you consult with one prior to making any investment decision.
You can read more about copyright or our advice disclaimer on these links.