1888 Proof Sovereign struck as a Coin of Record at the Melbourne Mint and featuring the Jubilee portrait of Queen Victoria

Australia’s Coins of Record are admired and respected worldwide. The recent sale of an Australian 1889 Jubilee Proof Sovereign in London for $90,000+ confirms their international appeal.

As with fine art and fine jewellery, Australia’s gold Coins of Record have prestige value.

A Coin of Record is an artistic interpretation of coinage, a strikingly beautiful coin beyond ordinary currency, individually crafted to standards far exceeding that required of a circulating coin.

Using technical terms, Coins of Record were struck using special minting techniques to either a proof or specimen finish involving highly polished blanks to create mirror fields and carefully prepared dies to ensure a wealth of design definition.

A Coin of Record is a showpiece. The crown jewels of coinage, adding glamour and exceptionality to any collection.

Whereas production of circulating coinage was dictated by Government, Coins of Record were struck at the discretion of the mint master. Placed in the mint’s archives for posterity. Perhaps, an example forwarded to the monarch. Coins of Record were occasionally produced for the Royal Mint London, a selected museum or to display at an international exhibition. Or gifted to a dignitary. All circumstances that necessitated the very best in minting standards.

The coins were not produced every year and, as they were individually crafted, the process was time consuming and the mintages tiny, therefore. 

For gold proofs, generally less than four pieces.

The Jubilee portrait was used on Australia’s sovereigns during the years 1887 to 1893. During this period, the Melbourne Mint struck Coins of Record to a proof finish.

There were two years in which the Melbourne Mint did not strike Coins of Record, 1891 and 1892, with the remaining years only known by two examples, presenting collectors with a tiny buying pool of perhaps twelve coins.

And that's not twelve of each year. That's twelve coins across the entire era of 1887 to 1893.

Proof sovereigns produced in the Jubilee era are popular with collectors. The reason is their scarcity. Coupled with the price at which they are offered. Generally below $100,000.

If a collector could choose a date to acquire from the Jubilee period, it would be 1887 and 1893, being the start and finishing years of the era.  

And the year '1888' simply because of the universal appeal of the number!

1888 Proof Sovereign struck as a Coin of Record at the Melbourne Mint. An historic coin, featuring the Jubilee portrait of Queen Victoria.

Spink Auctions November 1981, Lot 995 • Spink Auctions July 1988, Lot 2312 • Philip Spalding Collection 

Price: $88,000

Flawless with brilliant mirror fields that bounce the light and project a wealth of design depth, only one other example has been sighted at public auction over the last century.

And while Spalding is remembered for his love of Holey Dollars, he was a sophisticated collector on many levels, guided in his selections by Barrie Winsor.

This 1888 Proof Sovereign, featuring the Jubilee portrait of Queen Victoria, was one of his prized possessions.

The magnetism of gold is as strong as it has ever been. Gold jewellery. Gold bullion. Gold coins. Gold is still to this day viewed as a storage of wealth and gold is vigorously traded and possessed.

When it comes to collecting vintage gold coins, collectors have two distinct options.

They can acquire coins that were struck for circulation: coins that were meant to be used. Or they can collect coins that were struck as Coins of Record to a proof or specimen finish.

The coin on offer is one such Coin of Record, an 1888 Proof Sovereign struck at the Melbourne Mint.

That proof coins were struck in the nineteenth century may surprise some readers. But it has to be said that the striking of proof coins in Australia is not a modern day phenomenon. Nor a product of the decimal era.

The nation’s mints were striking proofs of our pre-decimal coinage in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the intention was then, as it is today, to create limited mintage coins struck to the highest standards of quality.

Each option, circulating coinage or proof coinage, presents the buyer with a vastly different sized pool of specimens from which to choose.

General date (non-key date), average circulating gold sovereigns, are available in the thousands if not the tens of thousands. Once the collector sets parameters on quality and dates, the pool of specimens narrows and it is true that acquiring a key date gold coin that was struck for circulation, particularly one in premium quality, can be a journey in time that involves many months, if not years.

The task of acquiring gold proofs of our pre-decimal coinage is far more challenging. The pathway to proof coinage for buyers can involve many years, if not decades.

Rarity is the key word when discussing proof gold.

And it is a statement of fact that proof gold, irrespective of the sector, is extremely rare and buying opportunities will always be thin on the ground.

And the reasons?

• Proof gold coins were NOT struck every year.

• And of those dates that were struck as proofs, only one, or perhaps two up to a maximum of three made their way out into the collector market.

• Natural attrition has taken its toll on coins out of the original mintages with some of them filtering their way into circulation or being mishandled and thus having their quality marred. So suddenly one, two or three proofs becomes even less.

• Great coins tend to be held. The owner of the Madrid Collection held onto his gold proofs for more than twenty years. The Spalding family and collector Tom Hadley, of Quartermaster fame, held their proof coins for an even longer time-frame.

This 1888 Proof Sovereign is an elite coin and presents superb quality and extreme rarity. And an attractive price.