Sydney Mint

r9453 · June 28, 2016, 06:17:19 PM

These are gold but now I know what a "scissel" actually looks like:

A Sydney Royal Mint worker holding 'scissels', fillets of gold from which coin blanks have been cut. The scissels would be returned to the Melting House for melting, January 1927. National Library of Australia: © Fairfax Syndication

This pic has no attribution but I assume its Sydney Mint:

http://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/if-these-walls-could-talk-mint

From the book, "The Sovereign"

Interior of the Sydney Branch of the Royal Mint, 21 March 1892, Robert Hunt, albumen print. HP89.19.80

Men pouring metal for coins into tubes at the Sydney Mint

echidna · June 28, 2016, 07:17:00 PM

Very nice.
Love those old BW photos.

nealeffendi · June 28, 2016, 07:28:06 PM

Never trust anything that cannot that you have not verified yourself (even things published by the major museums or the national library).
Look at that first image. What gold coin (Sov? or Half Sov?) would have blanks so large punched out? Looks more like the size of say a florin. I'm assuming that somebody (at the library or at Fairfax) felt the need to add a description and isn't a numismatist so they just winged it.
Same with the last image. Tubes?:@ More likely moulds.

trout · June 28, 2016, 07:36:50 PM

Mate the bloke holding The scissels is a hobbit,
That's why they didn't show his feet in the Pic :laugh2:

r9453 · June 28, 2016, 07:56:31 PM

Also, the attribution on the first photo says 1927 but I thought the mint closed in 1926.

nealeffendi · June 28, 2016, 08:29:20 PM

Quote from: 'r9453' pid='91648' dateline='1467109591'Also, the attribution on the first photo says 1927 but I thought the mint closed in 1926.

Doh! I missed that. 11th August 1926 according to 2 sources (but can we trust those sources?:mocking:)
Perhaps LeSouef and his restrikes of the 5? pound gold coins might have made scissel with big holes (but he only struck a handful and the Hobbit is holding scissel with enough holes for a lot more)

Basil · June 29, 2016, 09:16:18 AM

Good find,i've seen the first Pic. somewhere before,a guy wrote a Book on the Sydney Mint back in the 1960/70's,just did a Google and it didn't show but i'll keep looking.

robbiegal · June 29, 2016, 10:10:08 AM

technicalities aside
it is cool to see a photo of a scissel

thanks Rnumbers for the thread!

r9453 · June 29, 2016, 10:44:44 AM

Quote from: 'Basil' pid='91655' dateline='1467157578'Good find,i've seen the first Pic. somewhere before,a guy wrote a Book on the Sydney Mint back in the 1960/70's,just did a Google and it didn't show but i'll keep looking.

I was looking for photographic evidence of the minting process for KGV pennies but got sidetracked. Was the book you refer to called The Sovereign? It's mentioned here:

http://www.cruzis-coins.com/Grading/SydneyMint.html

autocoupler · June 29, 2016, 11:45:03 AM

Great topic and pics Rob Two Bob. Love the line shafts and belt drives, today's industry couldn't handle this type of set up without there being a million cages and guards to protect the inexperienced cowboys plucked from the street. :angel:

gnome · June 29, 2016, 12:24:18 PM

That front sheet looks to be only half punched out. And no clipped coins getting done either

Basil · June 29, 2016, 12:52:34 PM

Quote from: 'r9453' pid='91660' dateline='1467162884'I was looking for photographic evidence of the minting process for KGV pennies but got sidetracked. Was the book you refer to called The Sovereign? It's mentioned here:
http://www.cruzis-coins.com/Grading/SydneyMint.html

No i don't think so but my memory isn't great.IIRC it told of power struggles in the early 1920's as they contemplated Square Coins and changing the Copper/Tin combo to cheaper hardier materials,shambolic record keeping and also possible corruption.
I do remember our local Coin Dealer,who i borrowed the copy off, was not impressed,"another self appointed Coin expert joining dots to express his opinion",or something like that. I'll know it when i see it.

r9453 · July 01, 2016, 04:46:22 AM

Pre-decimal coinage at Sydney:

EDIT: Ooops, cross out 1922 shilling. Do I need to add 1926 pennies?

Basil · July 01, 2016, 08:59:26 AM

I found this whilst looking for the Clip Info.,not sure where i got it from.
Edit...its from the Renniks Coin Guide,i must have copied it a few years back for some reason.

r9453 · July 01, 2016, 09:24:03 AM

"While the 1923 half penny has a reasonably sizable mintage of 1,113,600 coins being struck at the Sydney
mint, these were dated 1922 and the 1923 mintage was actually struck at the Melbourne mint with a requested total of 480,000 coins."

http://www.bluesheet.com.au/Australia/Commonwealth_Coinage/Half_Penny/George_V/1923_MS.html