British Tram, Australian Penny and Calcutta Mint

The name suggests that the Australian penny could be minted in Calcutta Mint, but what is the relationship among British Tram, Australian penny and Calcutta Mint? It’s an interesting story.

Calcutta was the second most important city in the British Empire, but the Calcutta Mint was never a part of the Royal Mint like Ottawa in Canada. However there were all the minting facilities in Calcutta Mint and there were able professionals to handle all types of minting jobs including making the master dice.

According to a report by an Australian site, the demand of penny increased from the beginning of first decade of the last century. That’s because make payments of beer and tram fare in the United Kingdom were to be made in pence. So the Royal Mint as well as Ralph Heaton Mint (Birmingham) were busy in minting pennies for the United Kingdom. Still they were not out of capacity to mint copper penny and half penny for Australia.

One Half Penny, Commonwealth of Australia, Royal Mint (without mint mark)

In early next decade, the World War started. Soon after, in 1915, Germany declared the surrounding areas of British Isles as unrestricted war zone. The German war ships were equipped with submarines. So the risk factor to send coins from Britain to Australia increased. There were other mints in British Empire, but carrying cost was a factor. Ottawa is far away from Australia. Yes, there was a branch of Royal Mint in Melbourne with full minting facilities but there was lack of expertise to make the master dice. So Calcutta Mint received the order to mint penny and half penny for use in Australian Commonwealth.

In 1901, six British colonies (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia) agreed to join the Australian Commonwealth (while New Zealand and Fiji refused) and a new currency system was reinforced in 1905. The first coin was minted for the commonwealth in 1911. The commonwealth coins minted until 1939.

One Penny, Commonwealth of Australia, Calcutta Mint (with mint mark I above date)

Calcutta Mint made the master dice and minted Australian one penny and half penny from 1916 to 1918. Later the authority enabled the mint at Melbourne, the seat of the Australian Commonwealth, to do the job and the master dice was sent to Melbourne Mint. When the commonwealth of Australia was formed, Canberra was declared the capital, but Melbourne continued as the seat of government until the newly formed city was ready as the seat of government in 1927.

The coins minted in Calcutta bear mint mark ‘I’ at the bottom of inside circle of the coins and the coins minted in Royal Mints bear no mint mark. Now what about the mint mark of Ralph Heaton Mint (Birmingham)? Sorry, I have no Australian coin from that particular mint. It bore H as the mint mark at the same place where I is written. I like to showcase one Indian coin minted in Ralph Heaton Mint bearing mint mark H on it. Another Indian coin was minted in Ralph Heaton Mint (Birmingham), but the mint mark is different.

One Rupee 1985, Republic of India, Ralph Heaton Mint (mint mark below 5)

None of the One Penny and One Half Penny is categorized as rare or very rare but the coins bearing mintmark I is very important. It is a milestone not only for Calcutta Mint but also for India. Australian penny was minted until 1965. Value of the penny was 1/240^th of an Australian Pound or 1/12^th of an Australian Shillings. Decimal currency system was introduced in Australia in 1966.

(Note: Coins are from my collection)