Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1837. Estimate $25000.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $22000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

AUSTRALIA, Colonial. Adelaide Assay Office. AV Pound Ingot (12h). Dated 1852. Type II. GOVERNMENT ASSAY OFFICE ADELAIDE, crown and date within crenellated inner circle / WEIGHT 5 DWT: 15 GRS: 22 CARATS, VALUE ONE POUND within crenellated inner circle. KM 2; Friedberg 3. in PCGS slab, graded AU55. A few minor field nicks, traces of die rust. ($25,000)

The mid 19th century saw two famous Gold Rushes within a few years of each other, one in California and the second in Australia. The Australian Edward Hargraves was unsuccessful in finding his fortune among the "49ers", but he did come away with the conviction that the geology of the California gold fields matched that of areas of his native New South Wales. In February 1851 Hargraves struck gold at Summerhill Creek, NSW, to be followed a few months later by additional strikes in the state of Victoria. The Rush was on. Tens of thousands of prospectors poured into the gold fields, from the rest of Australia and around the world. Ironically this sudden discovery of vast wealth caused immense disruption to the nascent Australian economy. Towns and cities were virtually deserted as fortune hunters abandoned their homes and jobs, taking most of the already scarce circulating currency with them.

The situation became quite critical in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, and when a shipment of gold bullion arrived at the assay office in January 1852. The governor, Sir Henry Young, and the provincial legislature determined to alleviate the shortage of coinage by authorizing the striking of gold ingots. The ingots were less than successful, the people demanding proper coinage instead. In November 1852 an amendment to the bullion act authorized the striking of of £1, £2 and £5 coins. To circumvent the law against private minting of coins without royal approval, these pieces were still officially termed "ingots". Joshua Payne made dies for £1 and £5 coins, and began striking the 1 pound denomination. After some 50 pieces were struck, the reverse die cracked and was rendered unusable. A second, rather less elegant reverse die was hurriedly prepared, and ultimately a total of 24,768 £1 coins were struck. No original £5 coins are known, although a handful of restrikes were made from the original dies in 1919.

Meanwhile, the £1 coins had entered circulation to general acclaim, which only grew louder when it was discovered that the gold content of the new coins was £1/1-/10 1/2p. Thousands went back into the melting pot, at a good profit to the owners. Finally, in mid-1853 word reached Adelaide from the Colonial Office in London. Their petition to strike a provincial coinage was denied by Her Majesty's government. The Adelaide mint was shut down, and the few coins remaining in official coffers were melted down. Of Australia's first coinage issue, less than 200 examples are believed to have survived, with perhaps 20 of these being the rare type I.