Second Highest Grade (Population 3) 1 coin graded higher

Condition
Very Rare this grade. The 'second highest' graded. Benchmark' Collection spare. The ‘Indian’ obverse dies used to produce the majority of 1930 pennies were far from exhausted and legend has it that one was coupled with a 193_ ‘London’ reverse die (of a type to which an '0' had previously been added to produce the 1930 penny) resulting in the 1931 ‘Dropped 1’ Indian obverse Penny. The addition of the '1' to the ‘London’ die was certainly mis-aligned resulting in the 'Dropped 1' variety, but a study of the reverse die shows no connection to the 1930 reverse penny die, which like the 1929 ‘Melbourne altered’ reverse on which it appears to be based, exhibits dramatic serifying on the base of the letters. The 1931 'Dropped 1' reverse on the other hand closely resembles the unaltered ‘London’ reverse with straight based lettering that was re-introduced on the 1923 Penny. The Melbourne Mint had received a new partly dated hub of this type ie a 'London 193_' reverse on November 7th 1930, and in a rush to production mis-aligned the placement of the '1' in the date when adding it to the subsequent master die. This combination of dies was an experimental run and Mint records show "nil thousand production" of the 1931 ‘Dropped 1’ Indian obverse Penny , i.e. less than 1,000 coins (estimate 500) were originally produced of which no more than 50 have emerged. This coin is usually found in no better than VG-Fine condition and is extremely rare in higher grades.

Medium
Coins, Australia & New Zealand