Circa 1860, Port Phillip Kangaroo Office Gold Sixpence struck with a plain edge
Leafing through the early John G. Murdoch Sotheby's catalogue of 1904 and those of Spink Auctions 1978, 1981 and 1989 and more recently the Quartermaster catalogue of 2009, you are in no doubt of the enormous historical and numismatic significance that the Kangaroo Office gold pieces carry. The coins are today as influential and as charismatic as they were more than a century ago. The five gold Kangaroo Office pieces offered at the Quartermaster Auction (of which this coin was one) came with an estimated low value totalling $1.125 million. And an estimated high value of $1.32 million. Only two of the five pieces sold above their 'high' estimate, the gold shilling (sold by Coinworks last week). And this coin, the gold sixpence, ex Murdoch Collection 1904. This is a pivotal moment for just one buyer. It’s a weighty decision to knock back a gold Kangaroo Office piece. Chances are you won’t be offered another one for at least a decade, maybe even two.
Technical details Kangaroo Office Gold Sixpence
Reverse: A broad engine-turned rim encircles a large figure ‘6’ in the centre decoratively engraved and the words SIX PENCE incused in the rim.
Obverse: A broad raised engine-turned rim encircles a superb portrait of Queen Victoria wearing a jewelled crown, thought to be executed by William Taylor in 1860, and the words VICTORIA and AUSTRALIA incused in the rim.
(An engine-turned rim refers to a decorative pattern created by a machine-operated process whereby fine, closely spaced, criss-crossing lines are engraved into a surface. The result is a visually appealing, textured surface that adds a touch of elegance and sophistication.)
Diameter: 18.57 mm
Weight: 4.00 grams
Planchet: Thin
Edges: Plain
Circa 1860 Kangaroo Office Gold Sixpence
Circa 1860 Kangaroo Office Gold Sixpence
The offering in Zurich of an 1853 Gold Kangaroo Office 1oz piece from the famous 'Traveller Collection' is receiving global attention. And the attention is as much about the coin as it is about the pre-sale estimate of $475,000 AUD. (We believe it is the only known example held in private hands.)
Our offering of the Gold Kangaroo Office Shilling early in July also received local and international enquiries and is now sold, to a Victorian collector.
The Gold Kangaroo Office coins are iconic and attract strong buyer interest across the globe.
And it has been that way for more than a century. We also note the coins have always been associated with great collectors.
The Gold Kangaroo Office coins were first recorded at auction in 1892 in the sale of the Hyman Montagu Collection held by Sothebys London. And sighted again in 1904 in the sale of the John G Murdoch Collection.
More recently in Australia in 1989 at Spink Auctions and in 2009 at the now famous Quartermaster Auction. (The sporadic offerings confirm their overwhelming scarcity.)
Circa 1860 Kangaroo Office Gold Sixpence
Circa 1860 Kangaroo Office Gold Sixpence
Soon after the opening of the Adelaide Assay Office in 1852, and the striking of the Adelaide Pound - the nation's first gold coin - there was an attempt to establish a private mint in Melbourne. The mint was called the Kangaroo Office. Its prime goal was to buy gold at cheap prices direct from the fields and convert the precious metal into 'coins' of a fixed weight that would be released at their full value in London.
The plan was devised by English entrepreneur, William Joseph Taylor. By trade Taylor was an engraver and die sinker, active in the numismatic industry producing both coins and medals. He formed a syndicate to finance the operations with two colleagues, Hodgkin and Tyndall. The total investment was £13,000.
Taylor's mint was only one component of a broader-reaching enterprise that was based in London. The overall plan was to profit from all aspects of the Gold Rush and included a clipper ship - called the Kangaroo - that would bring migrants and goods from England to Melbourne and return with gold in its specially outfitted strongroom.
The Kangaroo sailed from London on 26 June 1853. On board, the pre-fabricated structure to house the mint and the shop. And the coining press, dies and two employees, Reginald Scaife, the Manager, and William Morgan Brown, his assistant. The ship arrived at Hobsons Bay, Melbourne on 26 October 1853.
The Kangaroo Office got off to a bad start as there were no facilities at the wharf for off-loading heavy equipment, such as the coining press. With no other option available, the press was dismantled, moved and reassembled, a process that took six months.
The Kangaroo Office eventually commenced operations in May 1854, striking gold coins. To thwart currency laws, the designs were made to look more like weights than coins. Taylor himself cut the dies for a 2oz, 1oz, 1/2oz and ¼oz gold piece, each dated 1853.
The coins were exhibited at the Melbourne Exhibition of 1854 (17 October - 12 December) and were written up in the Argus Newspaper as "several tokens of pure Australian gold were exhibited by Mr. Khull, bullion broker. They were manufactured by Mr. Scaiffe and are to be exhibited at our Palace of Industry."(Sadly a price was never quoted.)
Apart from the logistical difficulties of setting up business, the financial viability of the Kangaroo Office came under an immediate cloud. By mid-1854 when the mint became operational the price of gold had moved up to £4/4/- an ounce, vastly different to the £2/15/- per ounce when the plan was hatched. And there was a glut of English sovereigns in circulation.
By the middle of 1854, Reginald Scaiffe, the Kangaroo Office Manager, had an overwhelming sense of failure for the shop had taken less than £1 in trading, he had a ten-year lease, could not find cheap labour. Nor cheap gold. And basically had no customers.
Despite the financial challenges of the operation Taylor was unconvinced that his days as a coin designer and manufacturer were at an end. In 1855 he produced dies for the striking of a sixpence and shilling in gold, silver and copper. This was his first attempt at producing a piece depicting a value rather than a weight.
The coins were struck with a milled and plain edge, the former believed minted circa 1855, the latter circa 1860.
The sixpence and shilling featured the same broad engine-turned rim as the earlier minted gold coins. The obverse however featured a superb portrait of Queen Victoria with VICTORIA and AUSTRALIA embedded in the rim. The reverse featured the denomination in figures at the centre and in letters embedded in the rim above.
Taylor operated his Kangaroo Office for three years during which time he sustained substantial losses. With all hope of a profit gone, the dispirited promoters in London issued instructions for the Kangaroo Office to be closed.
Now while it is true that Taylor never achieved his ambitions, the Kangaroo Office coins are revered by collectors right across the globe.
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