Kookaburra Halfpenny, 1920, Type 1 • Of the highest importance • $150,000

In 1919, the Melbourne Mint began testing a square kookaburra coinage made from cupro-nickel. The penny was the only denomination produced in that year, minted in four different styles. In 1920, the mint expanded its focus and tested, along with several pennies, a halfpenny. Only one halfpenny design was tested. The year was an auspicious one for the industry, noted as producing Australia's greatest coin rarities such as the nation's rarest florin, the 1920 Star Florin. And our most valuable sovereign, the 1920 Sydney Mint Sovereign. Two coins out of the kookaburra series are listed amongst Australia's greatest '1920' coin rarities, the uniquely styled 'crowned head' 1920 Kookaburra Penny. And this 1920 Kookaburra Halfpenny, referenced the Type 1. 

The 1920 Type 1 Kookaburra Halfpenny is known by three coins, only one of which has ever appeared at auction. First offered in 1985 at Spink Auctions, the coin's last appearance was in 2007, offered by Noble Numismatics. The same coin was sold by Coinworks in 2021 to a Sydney collector. A second and unknown 1920 Type 1 Halfpenny surfaced in 1991, the personal property of the late Charles Cerutty, Assistant Secretary to the Treasury. Sold in March 1991 to a leading Sydney collector (now deceased), the piece is believed to have been sequestered in a perpetual trust. A third 1920 Type 1 Halfpenny, this coin, was acquired by private treaty from Noble Numismatics in 1999.  

Rarity - Three examples exist, this coin one of the three.  

Composition - Nickel 75% Copper 25%

Reverse - Unique to the Type 1. The design was not used again on a penny or halfpenny. A tiny, alert kookaburra resting on a thin branch, three feathers in the tail, the eye in relief. The word 'AUSTRALIA' sharply curved, the halfpenny denomination over two lines in a serif font. 

Obverse - Uncrowned effigy of George V, created by Australian artist Douglas Richardson, a sculpted portrait with chiselled features and a distinctive off-centre part in the hair. The circular legend reads 'GEORGIVS V D. G. BRITT: OMN:REX'. The date '1920' appears below the portrait, between ornamental stops. The portrait and legend is shared with the Type 8 Kookaburra Penny.