Australian "Dot S" 1 Shilling Coins & Some semi-numismatic theory

Hey Steemit,

I wanted to pen a piece here today for any new coin collectors reading who might want some background information on semi-numismatic coin valuing.

There are a multitude of factors that determine coin value. Two basic factors we will focus on in this article today for determining coin values are mintage and mint marks.

Put simply, the mintage of a coin is the total quantity of coins that were produced at the time of production.

Obviously, in terms of mintage, the lower the mintage, the less supply there is likely to be circulating in the secondary coin market. The greater the mintage, the larger supply there is likely to be circulating in the secondary coin market. Therefore, a smaller mintage is likely to translate to a higher price.

This leads us into coins with mint marks. A mintage mark is a unique identifier included in the design of a coin, to identify the location of where the coin was minted. In past times, some coins issued by governments were minted at different locations and thus, the need to identify the origin mint arose.

Sometimes mint marks come in the form of a small letter visible on the coin face, which is usually the first letter of the city, in which the mint is located.

Another example, here in the design for the Australian Shilling is the "dot" mint mark. As you can see in the image below with the "." before the world "shilling".

For comparison, here is the 1952 shilling without the dot in front of the word 'shilling'.

The "dot S" is a mint mark for the Perth Mint, while coins minted without that mark originate from the Melbourne Mint.

The "dot S" coins minted at the Perth Mint have a lower mintage, are more scarce and are therefore worth more than the Melbourne minted shillings that have no dot before the S.

Source:

1946 .S Australian Shilling

1. https://www.allcoinvalues.com/australian-coins-and-notes/1946-.s-australian-shilling-value.html

1946 Australian Shilling

1. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces2975.html