ozjohn

The attached jpegs are from the Royal Mint's Sydney Branch showing the coins released and withdrawn for the years 1904 and 1905. As you can see 3800 halfcrowns were released by the Sydney Mint in 1905 and probably included halfcrowns for that year. Little did they know how much these would be worth in a little over a hundred years. This photocopy was given to me by Sterling & Currency of Fremantle WA when I purchased an uncirculated 1904 halfcrown from them for more than I care to admit to.

If you want to dip coins you can make a very effective dip using Aluminum foil and bicarbonate of soda. Line a dish with the foil tip in some of the bicarb and dissolve it in hot water then place coin in the dish and all the silver oxide will disappear. Not that I recommend dipping at all but if you must do it then this is the cheapest way to damage your coins.

A 1927 proof halfcrown of the third series with only 15000 sets released must be one of the rarest modern British coins. This coin only exists as a proof with none issued for general circulation as far as I can tell. You can see them on ebay for about GBP100. I guess most of the 15000 still exist as they were probably saved by people at the time however 15000 is a very small mintage. The same can be said for the rest of the set .

The wear on the lions in the top shields of George 5th florins dated between 1911 to 1919 is typical and probably due to the deep strike on the obverse of the coin which can been seen as ghosting on the reverse as well. After 1919 it seems to improve as the head of the king is struck in a lower relief.