Australian 1916 Melbourne Shilling with portrait of King George V
| Obverse | King George V – Sir E. Bertram Mackennel
Legend: GEORGIVS V D.G. BRITT : OMN : REX F.D. IND : IMP : |
| Reverse | Australian Coat of Arms : William Henry James Blakemore Legend: One Shilling |
| Composition | 92.5% Silver, 7.5% Copper |
| Mass | 5.65g |
| Size | 23.5 mm (15 16″) |
| Actual Silver Weight (ASW) | 0.1680 tr.oz. |
This Australian shilling was issued during King George V’s reign 1911 to 1936. It features the Australian Coat of Arms on the reverse side and effigy of King George V on the obverse. From 1911 to 1914 the 1s was struck in London. Some 1915 issues have a H mintmark indicating that they were struck at Heaton in Birmingham. All other issues of the Australian Shilling were struck at either Sydney or Melbourne, some Melbourne issues have an M mintmark.
The 1921 shilling can be regarded as an oddity because it clearly shows a star above the date indicating it was struck at the Sydney mint. This star is not a mintmark as such but was struck to indicate that there had been a change in the silver content in these coins, this however never happened. The 1925 shilling is another unusual issue as it appears that every coin struck was used with a re-engraved reverse die from the 1923 shilling. This is known as and overdate. The interesting fact being that there were no coins minted in 1923 so it can be assumed that due to the high mintage in 1922 that there wasn’t a need for minting in 1923 but the dies had already been prepared so were therefore changed. Some years are typically weakly struck. The 1924, 1926 and 1927 shilling can be difficult to find with a strong strike.
