Owner Comments:
Very Rare
Mintage 981,000 minus those sent for Trial of the Pyx
Victoria Young Head
Australian Reverse
Type 1
The 1856 is somewhat rarer than the 1855 in grades AU through MS.
The British required that the Sydney Sovereigns be different than the ones minted in London. The Sydney Sovereigns were thought to be inferior to the British ones and at one time command only 19 Shillings to the Sovereign.
After the Royal Mint’s “Trial of the Pyx” in 1856, it was revealed that the Sydney Soverigns tested had an average of 0.02% more gold than the London standard required. They also used silver as an alloy instead of copper as the British Sovereigns had. The Sydney Sovereign soon became the Sovereign of choice in Asia and other parts. Many were melted to extract the higher percentage of gold and silver.
The 1855 and 1856 Sydney sovereigns had Queen Victoria's first portrait on the obverse, but had a different legend and the unique Australian reverse. The Australian reverse spelled out the Sydney Mint as well as Australia, which is interesting because at that time Australia was made up of six separate colonies and did not become the Commonweath of Australia until 1901.