Australian Mints

Until 1855, The Royal Mint was the sole producer of legal tender coins for Great Britain and the vast British Empire. Gold was discovered in New South Wales, Australia in 1851. As the gold was being mined in Australia, it was more cost effective to produce sovereigns in Sydney rather than transporting the gold to London to strike sovereigns and then ship them back to Australia.

The Royal Mint opened its first colonial branch, a branch mint in Sydney, Australia in 1855. At this time, the sovereign was a circulation coin with a nominal value of one pound, these British legal tender coins were used all over the British Empire. The Royal Mint went onto open two more branch mints in Australia, the Perth mint and the Melbourne mint. These three Australian branch mints struck more than 400 million sovereigns between 1855 and 1931.

Obverse

A young Queen Victoria with a wreath of the native plant Banksia around her head by Leonard Charles Wyon.

Reverse

Also designed by Leonard Charles Wyon, the reverse features the word 'AUSTRALIA' appears across the middle of the reverse with a crown above surrounded by a wreath of Banksia. 'SYDNEY MINT' appears above the crown and 'ONE SOVEREIGN' under the ribbon.

This was the first time in the history of the Empire that the denomination appeared on the reverse of any coin.

Specification

Metal	Gold
Diameter	22.05mm
Weight / Size	Full
Gold Weight Troy Ounces	0.235
Fineness / Carat	0.917 / 22
Mintage Figure	1,220,000
Date	1870
Obverse Designer	Leonard Charles Wyon
Reverse Designer	Leonard Charles Wyon
Issuing Monarch	Victoria (1837-1901)
Mint / Brand	Sydney Mint
Country	Australia

Terms of Sale - Key Points

You can find more information on payment and identification requirements.

Bullion coins are provided as is and on occasion may have some minor scratches or edge knocks. These are not regarded as faulty or damaged goods as their precious metal content and value as a bullion coin is not affected. Any coin sold for a value less than a 180% intrinsic is considered a bullion coin.

Gold investment products are VAT free. Silver investment products are inclusive of VAT at the current rate unless otherwise stated.

All investment products are based on the live precious metal price. Prices will be fixed once the item has been added to the basket and recalculates just before checking out.

If your product is not a graded coin and is considered a bullion item, it should be noted that these are bought and sold on low premiums over their precious metal content and not solely for aesthetic purposes; therefore, some products may have edge knocks and/or marks. These edge knocks and marks do not alter the specifications of the coins.

Please note that all investment products are exempt from the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and therefore customers do not have the right to cancel their order once the order has been accepted. If customers no longer wish to go ahead with their investment purchase, there is an option to sell the products back to Chard (1964) Ltd instead. View our current buy back prices.

View our full Terms & Conditions.

Delivery Information

We aim to dispatch orders within 48 hours of receiving cleared funds. Our standard delivery methods are as follows.

Orders over £60 - Fully Insured Delivery.

Within the UK and BFPO - Next day fully insured and tracked. Delivery starts from £6.

Orders under £60

Within the UK and BFPO - Royal Mail 2nd Class. Your order will normally arrive within 2-3 working days. Delivery starts from £3.50.

If you wish to have your order sent by an alternative method (e.g., Saturday Guaranteed) please contact +441253343081 for more information. Please note, we will not dispatch high value orders over a bank holiday weekend.

For international delivery, please check with your local customs office for more information on custom duty and taxes.

Full delivery information can be found by clicking here.

Postal Insurance

We offer fully insured delivery on all special delivery options. We do need to pass on the cost of this insurance as it soon adds up shipping high value gold and silver products.

Orders under £1500 there is no additional fee.
Orders over £1500 we charge a fee in order to cover the increasing costs of insurance. For every £1500 we apply a £1 fee.

If you require any assistance, please do not hesitate to call the showroom on +441253343081 and one of our team can discuss your purchase.

Tess Ryan

“Easy to order and arrived promptly, very pleased with my Flopsy Bunny coin, perfect present for a new first granddaughter. ”

a day ago

George Wolfenden

“Arrived on time and as ordered. Silver coins looked brilliant will be future gifts to family and friends. ”

Andy Wallis

“Great service. Thank you :-)”

Laurence

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Alan

“Easy to order and delivered when expected.”

2 days ago

Customer from Scotland

“Excellent service - lovely coin collection... ”

Jeff Egglestone

“Great service I ordered two coronation sovereigns 2023 coins beautiful condition well worth the money I paid very quick delivery would definitely recommend chards ”

colin

“Excellent price and delivery as usual. My favourite bullion supplier in the UK. Thank you ”

3 days ago

Derek Henderson

“A fantastic service weather on phone or in person in the business quality coins and bullion at fair prices if anyone reading this is thinking... Read More”

andy t

“Great quality,helpful great comms love dealing with them. Well packaged too”

6 days ago

1870 Australian Gold Sovereign - Sydney Mint