British Colonial - Sydney: 1857-1870
Sydney Mint Sovereign - Queen Victoria

SPECIFICATIONS Denomination Sovereign Metal Gold 0.916 Alloy Ag/Cu 0.41 Diameter 21.9 mm Thickness 1.4 mm Weight Legal 7.99 gms Weight 7.96 gms Shape Round Edge Milled Die-Axis 180° Mint Royal, Sydney

Obverse : Young Head of Queen Victoria to left. Hair bound and collected up into a knot behind with a wreath of native Bamksia part of which drops down the face, curls below the bottom of the ear and returns to the knot. Around along periphery legend VICTORIA D:G: BRITANNIAR:REG:F:D: . Mint Year at bottom below the truncation
Reverse : The AUSTRALIA across the center with a small crown above. A branch of oak leaves on either side joined at the bottom by a knotted bow. SYDNEY MINT at top and ONE SOVEREIGN at the bottom along periphery.

Year	Mintage	Year	Mintage
1857	499K	1864	2,698K
1858	1,101K	1865	2,130K
1859	1,050K	1866	2,911K
1860	1,573K	1867	2,370K
1861	1,626K	1868	1,117K
1862	2,477K	1869	1,202K*
1863	1,255K	1870	1,220K

* No coin with 1869 is known. Assumed to have been Minted with date 1868.

The 1856 October 16th Proclamation of Queen Victoria was only published in The Ceylon Government Gazette No. 3,044 of July 25, 1857; The year of this coin.

The 1857 to 1870 Australia Sovereigns had Second Type of head engraved by L. C. Wyon. Older 1855 and 1856 Sovereigns of First Type had larger head engraved by James Wyon, as used in the Sovereign Minted in London.

According to Sir Robert Chalmers these enactments were ineffectual ; the Indian rupee remained the local standard of value, though its legality rested solely on the Governor's Minute of 26th September 1836.

Ref: The Gold Sovereign. by M. A. Marsh.
1999, Cambridge U.K., 2nd ed. 118pp. Illustr. colour

The Sovereign was scanned at 600 dpi and displayed at 300 dpi It was obtained in USA around 2000.