"Australia's Sovereigns" book by Andrew Crellin

giorgio11

As I get further and further into sovereigns of the British Empire it seems that there is much information lacking on the rarity of the various U.K. sovereign issues, in particular the Australian pieces. I am considering buying the 2005 reference above, and since the list price is $595 (more than I can buy a sovereign for; but there is one included in the cover, a QEII modern one), I'd really like to hear from anyone who has actually read/owns the book. Yes, I own the Michael Marsh book, and I have a copy of the Quartermaster catalog and have noted their rarity comments in my Marsh.

Is the Crellin volume useful in terms of any rarity information for the Aussie sovereigns? Is it useful in terms of understanding the historical context of the various issues, delving into Mint records, and which ones may have been melted and why (or restruck, for that matter)?

Or, contrarily, is it mostly a pretty coffee table book with a nifty QEII sovereign in the cover as its main attraction? Something in-between? Thanks for any comments. George

lordmarcovan

Holy Cow, that's a pricey book. And for such a seemingly narrow niche, too. Perhaps that's one reason it's pricey, but... $595? C'mon! I'd expect it to come with a free sovereign sample for that much! Yow!

Edit- oh, I see there IS one, now, having reread your post. Interesting. That changes things, I suppose. A real gold coin set in the cover does certainly raise the price of a book considerably. Still, one wonders- did they have an edition without the expensive cover decoration (cool though that would be?) That would be more affordable, obviously.

I know little of Aussie sovereigns, but as a collector of a 1901 British Empire Victorian type set, I needed at least one.

The one coin in that whole empire-wide collection I'm skipping is the 1901 Aussie half-sovereign, for reasons of its rarity. I understand only a few proofs were struck of those?

Here's the one I have.





For Great Britain I still lack the 1901 homeland full sovereign but have the half-sovereign in PCGS 64 (ex-Terner).

giorgio11

I'm not sure why you need an Aussie half sovereign for a 1901 Victoria U.K. type set. The 1901 London issue was struck to the extent of 2 million pieces and is rated common in the companion Michael Marsh reference on half sovereigns (appropriately named The Gold Half Sovereign, Cambridge Publications). It was published in 1982, and I must admit that in the later full sovereign reference, (guess the title), Gold Jubilee edition, published 2002, even there he got a few things spectacularly wrong, such as that the 1927 Melbourne sovereign is only rated R2, very rare, when apparently none are known in any collection; also I am less into half sovereigns so I don't pretend to know the market at all.

PS With my first Google search I found a 1901 Victoria Old Head half sovereign, MS64 PCGS, on the website of TPGSovereigns.com, a company that I have dealt with successfully.

Anyway. I digress. Won't be the last time. Lord M, regarding the 1901 Perth half sovereign, and for that matter the branch mint Old Head half sovereigns of Melbourne and Sydney, Marsh lists no 1901-dated issues (he seems to focus on business strikes only and not proofs). So I think you are correct about the 1901 Perth being a proof-only issue if it exists at all. The Quartermaster Collection presented by Monetarium (Australia) Pty. Ltd. in June 2009 billed itself as the most "comprehensive collection of Australian Ingots, Patterns, Proofs, Sovereigns & Half Sovereigns ever assembled by a private collector or public institution." They did not offer a 1901 Perth half sov, which again reinforces to me how rare they are as they seem to have had about one of everything. So. Lord M, good to type with you, thanks for the interesting sidetrack but I am still looking for folks who have read the Crellin reference and can tell me how useful it is for these kinds of things.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>I'm not sure why you need an Aussie half sovereign for a 1901 Victoria U.K. type set >>

It's not a Victoria U.K. type set. Well, it is, but more than that. It's a 1901 British Empire set. UK, Canada, India, Straits Settlements, Ceylon, Australia, etc., etc.

giorgio11

Ah, I see. Well, good luck with that, would certainly like to know if you find one. Nice Melbourne sovereign BTW!