1866 Australia Sydney Mint Type II Half Sovereign Gold Coin

Product Description:

The Sydney Mint Type II (1857-1870) although still quite a scarce coin is relatively more common than its predecessor the Type I, with a few exceptions evident in a few editions of these remarkable coins that can be extremely understated and hard to come by.

These coins are in some respects more beautiful than Type I Sydney Mints. Interestingly the Type II was one of the few coins that renowned Royal engraver Leonard Charles Wyon was commissioned to design both the obverse and reverse. Most notably on the obverse, he depicts a young Queen Victoria with her hair tied with a Banksia Wreath, This wreath, a Native Australian plant is commonly found in NSW, making the obverse of this uniquely Australian coin even more Australian.

Although the Type I coins were only used as currency mostly in NSW the Type II garnered more respect and was amended by the British Treasury for use in “Other Colonies of Australasia” once word spread of the increased intrinsic value of Australian Sovereigns of this period by 1868 the coins could be found for use in circulation as far as Newfoundland and those in Britain had been accepting it since 1863, making these coins a truly world-renowned Numismatic Masterpiece

Obverse: Queen Victoria's hair tied with a banksia wreath; head left.

Reverse: Sydney Mint, with crowned Australia surrounded by wreath