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1 Pound - Victoria Adelaide Pound - Dentilated, South Australia
| Issuer | Government Assay Office of South Australia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1852 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 8.75 g |
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| Obverse description | Central device consists of a St. Edward's Crown rendered in high relief, occupying the centre of the field and enclosed within a decorative inner border comprising a scalloped wave motif flanked on either side by a dotted bead circle. The date 1852 appears in the field immediately below the crown. The circumferential legend GOVERNMENT ASSAY OFFICE is inscribed along the upper arc, with ADELAIDE along the lower arc, all separated by small rosette stops. The outermost rim is dentilated, giving the coin its characteristic dentilated variety designation. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | GOVERNMENT ASSAY OFFICE 1852 ADELAIDE |
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| Additional information |
South Australia's Government Assay Office operated for less than two years before colonial authorities dissolved it under pressure from London, which viewed local gold coinage as an encroachment on Royal Mint authority. The Adelaide Pound was struck in 1852 from Ballarat and Victorian goldfield bullion processed through the Port Adelaide assay facility — a practical response to the acute coin shortage that followed the gold rush, when merchants were conducting large transactions in raw gold dust weighed on shop scales.
The dentilated variety, KM#2, followed the plain-edged KM#1 after concerns about the earlier issue's vulnerability to clipping.