Beautifully well centred striking with strong date, crown and legend New South Wales.
William Henshall left his mark on this coin with the 'H' for Henshall clear.
The Holey Dollar and Dump were struck to create a medium of exchange in a colony starved of currency.
Governor Lachlan Macquarie enlisted the services of emancipated convict, William Henshall, to cut a hole in 40,000 Spanish Silver Dollars, creating two coins out of one.
The Dump, the small disc that fell out of the centre of the holed silver dollar, was then over stamped with the date 1813, a crown, New South Wales and the value of fifteen pence.
The buyer that pursues a top quality Dump will find the task extremely challenging. It can be years before a premium quality example comes onto the market.
The Dump circulated widely in the colony, the extreme wear on most Dumps evidence that they saw considerable use. So, while the Dump may seem the diminutive partner of the Holey Dollar, the reality is top quality Dumps have authority.
So let's define the words "top quality" for the 1813 Dump and establish where extreme rarity kicks in.
Every circulated coin has a grading level at which serious rarity kicks in. That is the point at which the balance between acquiring a coin as a collectible - and as an investment - shifts more towards the latter.
For the 1813 Colonial Dump that point is Good Very Fine.
The chart clearly shows that securing a Colonial Dump in a quality level of good Very Fine or better is a difficult task. We would sight a good Very Fine Dump on the open market perhaps once or twice every year.
Dr John Chapman certainly knew what he was doing when he selected this 1813 Dump. It is a beauty.
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