Walter Roth came to Australia initially (1887) as a medical student, probably because of an affair of the heart. With his ladylove, he stayed for four years. He returned to London, and emigrated again as a newly graduated doctor in 1892. It is W E Roth who starts the inaccurate Kangaroo Office narrative we see circulating in Australian numismatics. Roth is a well know in numismatics. He authors a series of pieces that appear in the press in Queensland in 1895.
Extract from A Numismatic History of Australia - The Queenslander, 27 July 1895.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/...%20australia
"With the discovery and glut of gold in the early fifties a distinct epoch was marked in Australasian economic history. Fortunately there are still some interesting relics extant of these momentous years, such as the Adelaide ingots and tokens (which are referred to in the section dealing with local gold coinage); but the most noteworthy are certainly the gold pieces issued from the Kangaroo Office. The following notes relative to theses specimens, now published for the first time, have been gathered from a personal interview with Mr Reginald Scaife the manager of the office in question whom I called upon during my last visit to England some three years ago.
At the end of 1852 or the beginning of 1853 news reached the old country that Ballarat gold was selling on the field for £2 15s per ounce. The idea of the promoters, Messrs Hodgkin, Taylor and Tyndall was to open a large store in Melbourne and issue over the counter pieces of 2, 1, ½ and ¼ oz gold that should pass at current values of 8, 4, 2 and £1 respectively. With this object in view a fully rigged ship of 600 tons, the Kangaroo, was chartered and in her was forwarded an abundant supply of stores of various descriptions. She arrived in Hobson's Bay on October 23rd 1853. Messrs Scaife and Morgan Brown, the later now deceased, were sent out as managers and in their charge were places the dies for the gold pieces all of which had been designed and executed by W J Taylor the late head of the present celebrated London firm of die sinkers. In Melbourne however owing to delays of various kinds, no machinery for stamping the coins could be set up for quite 6 months by which time there was a glut of English sovereigns in the colonial market and the value of the precious metal rose to £4 4s an ounce. When therefore everything was in readiness and the managers thoroughly prepared to execute orders no profit was to be found in issuing a one-ounce gold piece for £4. The whole affair thus speedily collapsed."
A good place to start is the claim gold, late 1852, early 1853 was being sold for 55 shillings.
The gold price as reported in the Melbourne Argus;
Oct 1 1852 - 67.5s
Nov 1 1852 - 68.5s
Dec 1 1852 - 69.5s
Jan 1 1853 - 70s
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/88631/507910
You might find a 55 shillings price in late 1851 in the diggings but by mid 1852 the banks have agents in the field. The assertions of Roth are not backed with fact. You will also not find gold being sold for 84 shillings in 1853/54 and you will also find that the price does not rise markedly between the Kangaroo arriving in Oct 1853 and the Office opening ~April 1854. In the Melbourne Argus in Oct of 1853 gold was 79s and in the Argus in April of 1854 it was a shilling higher at 80s (£4). There is no significant change between arrival and the shop opening as asserted by Roth.
"The Kangaroo was chartered"?
Research indicates the Kangaroo was purchased by the 3 messrs if the rumoured cost of the whole venture was actually £13000. The Kangaroo, the original owner P Tindall (Tyndall), was worth about £9000-10000 as a new ship launched on March of 1853. The 3 messers (Hodgkin, Tindall and Taylor) can't reasonably have spent £13000 unless they purchased the clipper.
The bullion rounds, Kangaroo Office pieces, are referred to as specimens. We typically use the "specimen" term for high quality examples of currency from a mint. "Specimens" is not a term to describe a bullion round made with a hand screw exhibition press out the back of what almost appears to be, at the time, a bottle shop.
There is an advertisement in the Argus in April of 1854 where we see Reg. Scaife of Franklyn St West selling brandy, port, sherry, madeira and tobacco. Scaife appears to be running what you might call a bottle shop.
According to the Argus of the 26th Oct 1853, the Kangaroo arrives on the 25th, not the 23rd.
The alleged glut of sovereign came during mid to late 1852 arguably because of the Bullion Act. The issues with currency shortages in the colony were over by the start of 1853.
Scaife was the manager of the store and Brown his assistant (in charge of the press), that is in the Indenture Deed referenced in the Kangaroo Office piece in the March 2023 issue of ACR.
Roth account is rather unreliable on numerous fronts.
Roths' piece in the Queenslander goes on to claim all the dies were thrown in Hobson Bay as per instruction from Scaife to Brown. Roth says this is "probably beyond doubt" after his search of London and Melbourne for the dies. Roth can't have looked too hard if he didn't go down to Stokes and have a look around.
We know a number of dies reside at the Victoria Museum. The Roth piece is just error after error and baseless assertion after baseless assertion. The whole Roth piece is littered with factual error and assertions with no foundation. So much of it is just not accurate. Yet if we read a narrative from a typical Australian numismatic site on Kangaroo Office pieces it is likely to be essentially the Roth narrative.
Extract from A Numismatic History of Australia - The Queenslander, 27 July 1895.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/...%20australia
"With the discovery and glut of gold in the early fifties a distinct epoch was marked in Australasian economic history. Fortunately there are still some interesting relics extant of these momentous years, such as the Adelaide ingots and tokens (which are referred to in the section dealing with local gold coinage); but the most noteworthy are certainly the gold pieces issued from the Kangaroo Office. The following notes relative to theses specimens, now published for the first time, have been gathered from a personal interview with Mr Reginald Scaife the manager of the office in question whom I called upon during my last visit to England some three years ago.
At the end of 1852 or the beginning of 1853 news reached the old country that Ballarat gold was selling on the field for £2 15s per ounce. The idea of the promoters, Messrs Hodgkin, Taylor and Tyndall was to open a large store in Melbourne and issue over the counter pieces of 2, 1, ½ and ¼ oz gold that should pass at current values of 8, 4, 2 and £1 respectively. With this object in view a fully rigged ship of 600 tons, the Kangaroo, was chartered and in her was forwarded an abundant supply of stores of various descriptions. She arrived in Hobson's Bay on October 23rd 1853. Messrs Scaife and Morgan Brown, the later now deceased, were sent out as managers and in their charge were places the dies for the gold pieces all of which had been designed and executed by W J Taylor the late head of the present celebrated London firm of die sinkers. In Melbourne however owing to delays of various kinds, no machinery for stamping the coins could be set up for quite 6 months by which time there was a glut of English sovereigns in the colonial market and the value of the precious metal rose to £4 4s an ounce. When therefore everything was in readiness and the managers thoroughly prepared to execute orders no profit was to be found in issuing a one-ounce gold piece for £4. The whole affair thus speedily collapsed."
A good place to start is the claim gold, late 1852, early 1853 was being sold for 55 shillings.
The gold price as reported in the Melbourne Argus;
Oct 1 1852 - 67.5s
Nov 1 1852 - 68.5s
Dec 1 1852 - 69.5s
Jan 1 1853 - 70s
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/88631/507910
You might find a 55 shillings price in late 1851 in the diggings but by mid 1852 the banks have agents in the field. The assertions of Roth are not backed with fact. You will also not find gold being sold for 84 shillings in 1853/54 and you will also find that the price does not rise markedly between the Kangaroo arriving in Oct 1853 and the Office opening ~April 1854. In the Melbourne Argus in Oct of 1853 gold was 79s and in the Argus in April of 1854 it was a shilling higher at 80s (£4). There is no significant change between arrival and the shop opening as asserted by Roth.
"The Kangaroo was chartered"?
Research indicates the Kangaroo was purchased by the 3 messrs if the rumoured cost of the whole venture was actually £13000. The Kangaroo, the original owner P Tindall (Tyndall), was worth about £9000-10000 as a new ship launched on March of 1853. The 3 messers (Hodgkin, Tindall and Taylor) can't reasonably have spent £13000 unless they purchased the clipper.
The bullion rounds, Kangaroo Office pieces, are referred to as specimens. We typically use the "specimen" term for high quality examples of currency from a mint. "Specimens" is not a term to describe a bullion round made with a hand screw exhibition press out the back of what almost appears to be, at the time, a bottle shop.
There is an advertisement in the Argus in April of 1854 where we see Reg. Scaife of Franklyn St West selling brandy, port, sherry, madeira and tobacco. Scaife appears to be running what you might call a bottle shop.
According to the Argus of the 26th Oct 1853, the Kangaroo arrives on the 25th, not the 23rd.
The alleged glut of sovereign came during mid to late 1852 arguably because of the Bullion Act. The issues with currency shortages in the colony were over by the start of 1853.
Scaife was the manager of the store and Brown his assistant (in charge of the press), that is in the Indenture Deed referenced in the Kangaroo Office piece in the March 2023 issue of ACR.
Roth account is rather unreliable on numerous fronts.
Roths' piece in the Queenslander goes on to claim all the dies were thrown in Hobson Bay as per instruction from Scaife to Brown. Roth says this is "probably beyond doubt" after his search of London and Melbourne for the dies. Roth can't have looked too hard if he didn't go down to Stokes and have a look around.
We know a number of dies reside at the Victoria Museum. The Roth piece is just error after error and baseless assertion after baseless assertion. The whole Roth piece is littered with factual error and assertions with no foundation. So much of it is just not accurate. Yet if we read a narrative from a typical Australian numismatic site on Kangaroo Office pieces it is likely to be essentially the Roth narrative.
. After this I haven't pursued its history. A couple more runs and the investors are likely to be looking towards some profit, even if they sell the clipper. I do not think the Kangaroo venture was the financial disaster the Taylor-centric story cries. It may have made good money if the Kangaroo kept running, somewhere, up to about 1860.