1930 Sovereign Melbourne Mint

A new portrait of George V appeared on Australia’s gold sovereigns in 1929. The portrait is referred to as the ‘small head’ design. The small head portrait ran for three years concluding in 1931 when Australia ceased sovereign production altogether.

The rarity of the Melbourne Mint sovereigns in this 1929 to 1931 era are related to the original mintages. In 1929, 1930 and 1931 the Melbourne Mint stuck 137,000, 77,000 and 58,000 respectively. (Note the tiny mintage of both the 1930 and 1931.) The Perth Mint on the other hand was a prolific producer striking 1.6 million, 1.91 million and 1.17 million respectively.

The final consideration with this coin is its quality. An Uncirculated quality sovereign should always be a prime goal for a coin investor. This coin has however been assigned an even higher quality ranking at Choice Uncirculated which reflects both the finesse of the minting process and a simply brilliant state of preservation.