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The Perth
Mint had been working with silver ever since it first started to produce
sovereigns in 1899. Silver is a by-product of the gold refining process and
the Mint made silver ingots which it shipped to various parts of the Empire.
Surprisingly,
perhaps, it was not until 1946 that Perth produced its first silver coin.
The story
goes back to 1942 when the Commonwealth Treasury expressed concern that as
World War II progressed it may become necessary for Perth to produce silver
coins. The Deputy Master responded that he would do whatever was needed for
the war effort, but pointed out that the Mint was working to capacity
producing bronze coins, and the Treasury would have to decide what was more
important.
Despite the
fact that the ledgers show it was minted in 1946, 1947, and 1949, the Perth
shilling was only dated 1946.
The reverse
bore the celebrated Merino ‘ram’s head’ design by George
Kruger Gray, while the obverse featured the Thomas Humphrey Paget effigy of
King George VI.
Made from a
new alloy, the 1946 shilling was particularly frustrating to work with as it
would not cool properly, resulting in many rejections. Prior to 1946,
shillings were made from 92.5% silver, which made them worth more than their
face value by the mide-1940s.
Much the same
as the sovereign before it, the shilling was being collected and melted down
for its metal value. In 1946 the Federal Government reduced the coin’s
silver content to 50% to curtail this practice.
Despite the
problems, The Perth Mint produced a total of 1,316,000 shillings (more than
10 million were also produced in Melbourne). It remained the only pre-decimal
silver coin ever made in Perth.
So how do you
know if you own the scarcer Perth Mint variety?
It has been
said that Perth had a passion for an identifying mark on its output –
most notably the ‘P’ mintmark on its millions of sovereigns.
So when the
dies for the 1946 shilling arrived from Melbourne, a small addition to the
reverse was added in the shape of a dot in front of the ‘S’ of
shilling.
Depending on
condition, of course, you could now be looking at a nice return from The
Perth Mint’s first ever silver coin!
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