Australia New South Wales Five Shillings 1813 “Holey Dollar”

Posted by slang on March 23, 2009

This is the Australian New South Wales Five Shillings 1813 Holey Dollar NSW counterstamp on holed Mexico City 8 Reales 1800 Mo FM which fetched £61,462.50 in an auction dated 2/9/2007:

So what is this “holey dollars” about and why it exists in New South Wales? The story started with the colonization of New South Wales in 1788. Due to a shortage of coinage in England, New South Wales were without coinage and the barter system was used with rum being one of the principal mediums of exchange.

In 1791, the Governor of New South Wales, declared the Spanish 8 Reales(dollars) coin, the legal coinage at a fixed rate of five shillings Sterling. British and foreign gold, silver and copper coins also circulated at fixed rate of exchanges. However,the imported Spanish dollars left the colony almost as quickly as they arrived,for people had to purchase all their needs from incoming ships.

On the 26 th November 1812, the sloop of war, Samarang, arrived at Port Jackson with Spanish dollars worth Sterling Pound 10,000 which had been brought from Madras by the government.

To create a stable coinage for the colony, Goveror MacQuarie directed William Hershell, convicted forger to commence cutting a circular piece from the centre of each dollar(this piece became known as the Dump), which was smoothed and counter-stamped “New South Wales, 1813″, with crown in the centre, and on the reverse, the value fifteen pence. The Holey Dollar within and around the inner rim was also counter-stamped on the obverse, “New South Wales, 1813″ and on the reverse, five shillings. By 1814, the Ring Dollars (now called the Holey Dollar) and with their children, the Dumps were issued as currency. The combined value of the two pieces( six shillings and three pence),gave the Government a good profit on the purchase price, four shillings and nine pence for each Spanish dollar and the Colony, two coins, instead of one.

When the silver and copper coin shortage in England was over, the authorities desired Australia on the Sterling system. From early 1822, the first of a number of Proclamations was issued recalling the Holey Dollars and Dumps and in exchange for Sterling coins. On the 30 th September 1829, Governor Brisbane declared that the Ring dollars(Holey Dollars) would not be accepted for exchange. Of the 40,000 Holey dollars issued only 170 identifiable specimens have been accounted for and 25 not confirmed. Estimate of the number of Dumps in existence has been stated at 1,000.

The “Holley Dollars” accounted for in museums, galleres, libraries, banks and mints,etcs totalled 85 which are as follows:

The Dixon Library, Sydney-52; National Galery Victoria-12;The S.A.National Gallery-2;Bank of New South Wales-2;Royal Australian mint, Canberra-2; Mitchell Library-1;A.H.F.Baldwin Esq-1;National Bank of Australia-1;Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut USA-1; Ballarat Historical Park Gold Museum-1; Cateau de Ramezay,Montreal Canada-1; The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England-1;The Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh,USA-1