The Hyde Park Collection - Australian Victoria Sovereigns 1855-1901
VICTORIA SOVEREIGN MELBOURNE MINT 1887M YOUNG HEAD & SHIELD

Owner Comments:

Extremely Rare R3 - semi key
Mintage 35,000 (research in personal file)
Reported Mintage 1,916,424 with 642 going to Pyx Trial includes both the St. George reverse and the shield reverse.
The mintage figures of the Young Head Queen Victoria Sovereigns in most reference books are the total number of the St George and Shield reverse struck with that date/mint mark. Sometimes the mintage figures for both reveres are combined. In the mid 1990’s, Mr John Sharples, Numismatic Curator of the Victoria Museum, conducted research in the museum's archives. His research occurred in Sydney and Melbourne. Mr. Sharples established separate mintage figures for each of the two types of sovereigns. In this case, he established that there were 35,000 minted.