JOHN MURDOCH'S MELBOURNE MINT PROOF GOLD COINS

The preface to the catalogue prepared by Sotheby's for the sale of Murdoch's collection stated it was: "…second only to the late Mr Montagu's. The two collections are probably the most important, valuable and extensive ever formed in England. Mr Murdoch did not collect Greek and Roman coins. If these series are eliminated from the Montagu Collection, we think Mr Murdoch's will be found to be the most important numismatic collection ever sold in this country".

The relevance of John G Murdoch to collectors of Australian gold coins lies in a request he made of the Melbourne Mint for proof coins "…in 1890…", principally because nearly all of the proof gold coins struck by the Melbourne Mint that are available to collectors today can be traced back to this request and Murdoch's collection.

Discussion of these gold coins from Murdoch's collection has felt very similar to the discussion of the Sydney Mint patterns and proofs struck by the Melbourne Mint in February 1927. On face value, both situations appear to be unorthodox - wealthy private collectors were closely linked to the Royal Mint's production of exclusive gold coins not available to the general public. Both situations, however were conducted with full knowledge of senior Mint staff, within Australia and London.

The generalisations around and superficial explorations of the circumstances of both situations has caused some collectors to shy away from the coins involved, principally out of a concern that information might come to light in future that could cause the rarity of the coins to be diminished.

A thorough review of the fulfilment of Murdoch's request addresses any such concerns. If anything, it affirms just how rare these coins are and how compelling the Murdoch provenance is.

The Dies Used to Strike Murdoch's Proof Gold Coins

After learning of Murdoch's special request of the Melbourne Mint, I wondered how Mint staff went about the task. Did they simply use previously-issued dies out of storage? Were any of those dies different to those used to strike circulating coinage? Was one common obverse die paired with each reverse of a different date?

Mintage figures for half sovereigns struck by the Melbourne Mint in the late 19th century indicate that the level of economic activity only required new injections of circulating gold coins once every few years. In the Jubilee Head era, Melbourne issued Half Sovereigns for circulation only in 1887 and 1893.

David Iverson and Steve Hill in the United Kingdom have conducted extensive research into the dies used to strike the Jubilee Head gold coinage, the result of which is the identification of numerous differences in the obverse and reverse dies used for certain dates, in certain years and at certain mints.

To read the complete article, see:
John G Murdoch: A Numismatic Provenance of Biblical Proportions (https://www.sterlingcurrency.com.au/blog/news-research/australian-gold-coinage/john-g-murdoch-a-numismatic-provenance-of-biblical/)

 

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