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Australian penny

1921 main page

1921 Australian Penny

Minted in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.

Two obverse / reverse die combinations were used during 1921 when making Australian pennies:   The 'Indian obverse', and the 'London obverse'.   In each case the same reverse die was used.

The London obverse, (heads), variation has 177 outer rim denticals, while the Indian obverse variation has 178 outer rim denticals.

Both obverses feature the image of Australia's, (England's), Monarch at the time, King George V facing to the left, with the legend reading the Latin "GEORGIVS V D.G. BRITT: OMN: REX F.D. IND: IMP:"

This translates roughly to "George V, by the grace of God, King of all Britons, defender of the faith, 

Emperor of India"

The estimated values above are based on a combination of published guides, recent sales, projected values, and a variety of other sources.

They represent retail values and are provided as a guide only.

No allowance has been made for detractors, which will impact negatively on value.

The easiest way to tell which obverse you have is to look at alignment of the final stroke of the 'N' in 'OMN', and the ':' after IMP, relative to the outer rim beads.

Indian obverse:  Last stroke of 'N' in 'OMN' lines up with outer rim dentical, ':' after 'IMP' lines up in-between outer rim denticals.

London obverse:  Last stroke of 'N' in 'OMN' lines up in-between outer rim denticals, ':' after 'IMP' lines up with outer rim dentical.

The reverse, (tails), has 177 outer rim denticals, with the words "ONE PENNY" in the center, scrolls above and below wording, all surrounded by a ring of inner denticals.     The 1921 penny has no mint mark.

Outer rim legend reads "COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA", with the date at the bottom, known as the 'COA' reverse.

TDK

Australian Pre-Decimal Coins

1921 Australian penny

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