1813 Holey Dollar struck from a 1793, Mexico Mint, Spanish Silver Dollar

Historical reference 1793/6 in the Mira Noble Reference, the "Holey Dollars of New South Wales".

The Mexico Mint mint mark 'M' with the circle above it is clear as is the counter stamps New South Wales and 1813.

The status of the Holey Dollar as Australia’s first coin ensures that it will never be forgotten and, as time passes, its historical value can only increase.

The Holey Dollar is wanted in all quality levels. And all price levels. And demand is coming from local collectors as well as international buyers. Jointly, they are pushing prices.

The minimum entry point for acquiring a Holey Dollar used to be $25,000 - $35,000. It now stands at $45,000 - $55,000.

We sense that, once sold, this coin will be extremely difficult to replace.

More than 80,000 convicts were transported to the penal colony of New South Wales over an eighteen-year period. One of the most famous of them all was William Henshall, the emancipated convict charged with the responsibility of creating our very first coins.

When William Henshall created this coin, he picked up a 1793 Spanish Silver Dollar that had been struck at the Mexico Mint. Using crude equipment, he cut a hole in it.

He then continued the minting process by over-stamping the inner circular edge of the hole with the words New South Wales, the date 1813 and the value of five shillings.

In so doing he created history by becoming Australia’s first mint master and created one of Australia’s greatest coin rarities, the 1813 Holey Dollar.

No other coin has had so many books written about it. No other coin has been so highly exhibited.

Talk to those fortunate owners, either private collectors or institutions such as Macquarie Bank, National Museum of Australia and the Mitchell Library, and you quickly realise that the Holey Dollar is viewed as the jewel in their collection.

The Holey Dollar is a coin that is held in the utmost respect. It is history. And yet it is refreshingly current.

The ingenuity of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in creating our first coin is reflected in the naming of the Macquarie Bank and the bank’s ultimate adoption of the Holey Dollar as it logo.