REVIEW: COINS & HISTORICAL MEDALS: 6-7 FEBRUARY

In 1813, 25 years after the first European settlement was established in Australia, in New South Wales, the British Governor, Major General Lachlan Macquarrie, moved to rationalise and control the currency.

The British Government had despatched £10,000 in Spanish dollars for the purpose, and Governor Macquarrie set about creating a unique new currency that would be valueless outside New South Wales, thereby giving him control of the coinage.

He did this by ordering that the centre of each dollar should be punched out, creating two coins for circulation: the ‘holey’ dollar, worth five shillings, and the smaller punched out coin or ‘dump’, worth a quarter of that at one shilling and threepence. The obverse of the dump was stamped with a crown, the words New South Wales and the date, 1813, and the reverse with the words fifteen pence.

Four years later the state opened its first bank, issuing denominated notes in sterling. By then, Britain had joined the gold standard, and within a decade the declining supply of Spanish dollars contributed to the introduction of the Sterling Silver Money Act (1825), which rendered only British coins legal currency, and put an end to the holey dollar and dump.

Almost exactly 200 years on from its withdrawal as legal tender, one of these dump coins turned up in an Oxfam shop in Orpington, Kent. Fortunately, it was spotted in a donated bag of old coins by coin enthusiast John Turner, who is also an Oxfam volunteer.

Now in his mid 70s, he has volunteered for Oxfam for the past ten years since retiring from banking. Although based at his local Bromley shop in South East London, he regularly visits several other shops in South London to help out.

Thanks to his expertise, the coin was consigned to Noonans’ Coins & Historical Medals Auction on February 6-7, where it sold over its top estimate of £7,000 at £7,500 to a dealer in the United States.

After the sale, John Turner said: “As a volunteer of nearly ten years, it is not every day you make discoveries like these.

“When I first found the coin, I had no idea what it was, but I am so glad I persevered with the research. I am thrilled that it has sold at such a brilliant price – especially knowing that all the money raised will go towards Oxfam.”