Proof 1931 Penny

This Proof 1931 Penny was especially struck at the Melbourne Mint as a limited mintage collector piece.

The coin is regarded as one of Australia's great Commonwealth coin rarities.

The Proof 1931 Penny shares a bond with the Proof 1930 Penny and the Proof 1925 Penny.

All three proof coins are limited mintage presentation (collector) strikings of Australia’s key date circulating pennies.

And important as such.

• In the case of the 1930 Penny, approximately 1500 coins are believed to have filtered their way into circulation.
• In the case of the year 1925, 117,000 pennies were minted for circulation.
• The wheels at the Melbourne Mint were grinding very slowly in 1931 for Australia was still working its way through the Great Depression. The mintage of pennies was 494,000.

The striking of ‘collector’ coins - better known as 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.

The intention was then, as it is today, to create limited mintage collector coins struck to the highest quality standards.

But with two very glaring differences. The mintages more than a century ago were minuscule. And their striking was sporadic.

The quality and the rarity of pre-decimal proof coins in today’s market is the very reason why they became the choice of both collectors and investors.