The 1813 Dump, the nation's first coin and the partner to the 1813 Holey Dollar. Find out more about this classic Australian rarity.

In a letter to Lord Bathurst (London) in July 1822, Governor Lachlan Macquarie reflected on his impressions of the colony of New South Wales, when he arrived in 1810. 

"I found the colony barely emerging from infantile imbecility and suffering from various privations and disabilities: the countryside impenetrable 40 miles from Sydney; agriculture in a yet languishing state; commerce in its early dawn; revenue unknown; the public buildings in a state of dilapidation and mouldering to decay: no public credit nor private confidence ... The credit of the colony was very low when I arrived on account of the base paper currency which was then the only circulating medium, the lowest and most profligate persons issuing their notes of hand in payment of goods purchased without having the means of redeeming them when due."

The story of Australian money in the first twenty years is the introduction of forms of money and money-substitutes, conditioned by the absence of a local Treasury and by the emergence of a market economy. 

The First Fleet, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, had set sail on 12 May 1787, with eleven vessels, 1482 persons, provisions and no currency, other than that which was personally held by its passengers.. 

The initial medium of exchange of the infant colony was the Government's Store Receipts which could be converted to bills on the London Treasury.

Foreign coins arrive haphazardly in trade or in officers purses and convicts pockets, acquiring local acceptability and brief legal recognition. But they were inadequate to meet the needs of the colony. 

The liberal use of rum as medium of barter flourished. And every merchant became a self appointed banker issuing promissory notes. Written notes, scraps of paper both literally and figuratively, were used indiscriminately by a broad cross section of the population to settle debts, including government, the judiciary, free settlers and convicts alike.

The promissory notes were only as good as the worth of the issuer. Forgeries were common. Many circulated for great lengths of time and often were never presented. This encouraged drawers to use ink that would fade.

In a way, the failure of Governors King (1800 to 1806) and Bligh (1806 - 1808) to stem promissory notes was evidence of the vitality with which private enterprise was growing in the colony.

In 1810, Macquarie, as the new Governor of the penal colony of New South Wales, put forward a plan for a bank as a Government institution. He also requested £5000 of copper currency, low denomination coinage, to curb the use of promissory notes. Both plans, the bank and the copper coin, were rejected. 

By way of consolation, Macquarie was sent £10,000 of Spanish silver dollars (40,000 coins) with a request to take the necessary steps to prevent their export. 

He secured the retention of the imported dollars by cutting out a circular disc from each coin. The holed dollar and the metal disc that fell out of the hole was over-stamped and transformed into a local, purely over valued coinage. The Holey Dollar and Dump. 

A deterrent to their export was their reduced  silver content. However to further prevent export, masters of ships were required to enter into a bond of £200 not to carry the coin away.

Anyone counterfeiting holey dollars or dumps were liable to a seven year prison term; the same penalty applied for melting down. Jewellers were said to be particularly suspect.

Macquarie had high hopes for the Holey Dollar and Dump, and in particular the Dump. 

He stated that the Dump would fill the role of small change and would remove much of the need for promissory notes of low denominations.

So convinced was he about the efficacy of the low denomination Dump that his proclamation dated 30 September 1813, giving the Holey Dollar and Dump legal tender status, also  banned the issue of promissory notes of less than two and sixpence (or the equivalent of two Dumps).

The industry acknowledges that there are about one thousand surviving examples of the 1813 Dump, with eight hundred available to collectors, the balance held in museums and public institutions.

Within that collector pool, the Dump appears in four distinctly different die combinations or styles. The four combinations have been classified by respected collector and author Bill Mira as the type A/1, D/2, E/3 and C/4, the letter referring to the obverse die, the numeral representing the reverse die.

No examples have been identified that differ from the four styles.

On the obverse, the different styles are reflected in the shape of the cross on the crown, the position of this cross in relation to the letters in the legend above it. And in the shapes and positioning of the row of five jewels in the band of the crown.

On the reverse, differences are found in the distances between the words 'FIFTEEN' and 'PENCE' and in the position of the 'T' in 'FIFTEEN' in relation to the 'N' in 'PENCE'.

Historians suggest that the D/2 dies were likely the first die combination used, for the coins exhibit weaknesses in the edges and the legend, suggesting that the die was too large for the silver disc.

Of the 800 surviving Dumps in collector's hands, 20 per cent were struck using the D/2 dies.

The A/1 die combination appears in 75 per cent of surviving Dumps, producing a coin that was well centred and framed by edge denticles, eliminating a lot of the design deficiencies of the D/2 combination.

The E/3 and C/4 dies produced coins that were very crude and esoteric and tend to be enjoyed by collectors seeking to acquire one of each style. There is a suggestion that they may have been test pieces presented to Governor Macquarie before production began. Or the work of another engraver that was discarded due to the poor result. 

Many of the C/4 Dumps, in particular,  have surface cracks and splits supporting the theory that they were produced to establish the correct striking pressure and planchet temperatures. That they may have been contemporary forgeries struck in silver, has also been muted.

Irrespective, the E/3 and C/4 Dumps are extremely rare and an essential part of the 'Dump' story.

The Holey Dollar and Dump represent the pinnacle of Australia's numismatic industry, our very first coins.

Buying a Holey Dollar or a Dump is like buying a BMW motor vehicle and choosing between the top of the range BMW 7 series or the slightly smaller BMW 5 series. Both dynamic vehicles, and a joy to own, the latter available in a price range that caters to more buyers.

And so it is with the Dump. It is a rarity in its own right and is very much sought after, catering to more collectors.

Final points to consider when acquiring a Dump

The buyer that pursues a top quality 1813 Dump will find the task extremely challenging. It can be years before a premium quality example comes onto the market and decades before the very best becomes available. And that statement is said in the knowledge that there are perhaps 800 Dumps, across all quality levels, available to private collectors.

The Dump with a value of fifteen pence circulated widely in the colony, the extreme wear on most Dumps evidence that they saw considerable use. The Holey Dollar being a higher valued piece, at five shillings, had a narrower band of circulation and was held by the colony's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales as a reserve. Historians also suggest that, as they were legal tender and could be used to buy Bills on London, they tended to be hoarded by its citizens.

So, while the Dump may seem the diminutive partner of the Holey Dollar, the reality is top quality Dumps have authority. They are extremely rare, in fact far rarer than their holed counterpart in the same quality level. 

As such, Dumps are highly valued.

You can acquire a well used 1813 Dump for $5,000 to $10,000. Of course you won’t see much of the design, it will almost be obliterated. Moving up the quality scale you will find a 'Fine' to 'good Fine' Dump for $15,000 to $20,000. The design will be evident, but flattened, and the coin will more than likely be knocked around.

Buyers that are looking for a higher quality example might stretch their budget with the expectations of a $25,000 to $30,000 outlay and so walk away with an 'About Very Fine' to 'Very Fine' Dump.

What is obvious from the chart below is that 'Good Very Fine' is the point at which extreme rarity kicks in for the 1813 Dump.  The buyer that is looking for a high quality Good Very Fine Dump will have to extend their budget to $40,000 with perhaps an upper ceiling of $50,000. Acquiring a Dump at this quality level is not only about the dollars involved. Its about exercising a lot of patience for you can realistically be looking at a one-year time frame, perhaps even longer.

It is at the quality level of About Extremely Fine, and higher, that the task of finding a Dump becomes tough and challenging, invariably involving several years. And a price range upwards of $75,000. The chart below clearly shows that at a quality level of About Extremely Fine to Extremely Fine you are in 'rarefied air' with very few examples becoming available. And that the quality ranges of Good Extremely Fine and up to Uncirculated are an absolute 'killer' for acquisition.