Lot 1
'Contemporary forgery' discovered in 1927 during the Pitt Street excavations
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Provenance:
- 355 Artist Name:
- Collectibles Exhibited:
- Coins, Monies & Stamps Literature:
- Coins, Australia & New Zealand Notes:
- If you were visiting Sydney today you would be struck by the mayhem that goes with a major transport upgrade as great tracts of the citys streets are being torn up to accommodate a new light rail network. History certainly does repeat itself, for in the early 1920s whole streets in the Sydney CBD were excavated to install the subterranean tunnels required for the City Circle Train Line. Large-scale excavations in a heavily populated area are always going to be disruptive but they can also turn up things long buried, with some discovered treasures being of great historical importance. Such was the case in 1927 when a handful of forged dumps struck in copper were unearthed when part of Pitt Street was dug up. These contemporary forgeries had been buried for a hundred years taking a toll on their surfaces which were now grainy and pitted. Tellingly the discovered dumps were all struck on the same set of crude dies suggesting that just one forger was responsible for the criminal enterprise, but some examples were more complete than others having either plain edges or simulated edge milling like the real silver dumps. The purity of the copper suggests that the planchets used to strike the dumps were derived from the Great Britain 1797 Cartwheel pennies that were common in colonial Sydney. Metal analysis also reveals traces of a silvery lead wash which would have coated the forgeries to make them more convincing when they were passed off as real dumps. Australia started out as a penal colony and so it was obvious that some of its new citizens would revert to their original calling in life. These contemporary forgeries were the work of one such recidivist and speak strongly of Australias convict roots. As historical markers, they are certainly deserving of equal standing in Australian numismatics alongside the silver dumps struck in 1813 by the convict forger William Henshall for Governor Macquarie and which circulated as legitimate currency in New South Wales until 1829. Smalls Auctions in its October Sale offers an example of a Copper Dump' discovered in the Pitt Street excavations of 1927. It was originally sold by Dave Raymond one of Sydneys earliest coin dealers who was active from 1914 to 1958. Condition:
- Porous surfaces
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