AUSTRALIA 1988 SILVER HOLEY DOLLAR and DUMP
Obverse: Maklouf portrait of Elizabeth II to right; Reverse: Wawalag Sisters and The Rainbow Serpent
The first of the three silver coin sets issued by the Perth Mint commemorating the Holey Dollar and Dump.
The Perth Mint released a pair of silver coins in 1988 to celebrate Australia’s Bicentennial year, the designs were based on the famous Holey Dollar and Dump.
Two further pairs of silver coins were released in 1989 and 1990 to form a set of 3 pairs of Holey Dollars & Dumps, a full colour book / album was also released to store the coins in. Due to the innovative designs, low mintage figures and informative colour booklets released with each coin, it was a hugely popular series.
Description:
Mintage: 100,000
Dollar Composition: 1 oz .999 Silver; 31.935 grams
Dump Composition: 1/4 oz .999 Silver; 7.984 grams
A card booklet containing a commemorative silver Holey Dollar a dump featuring the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Dreamtime story of the Wawalag (or Wagilag)
sisters from which the reverse depictions of the snake (on the holey dollar) and the two sisters (on the dump) are drawn
The coins are encapsulated and housed in a special presentation wallet
1813 Holey Dollar and Dump Australia’s first silver coins
In the early 1800s, the Governor of NSW bought a house. He paid for it with 200 gallons of rum. Strange, you think? But no, this wasn’t at all unusual.
Even though New South Wales had moved on from being a penal colony and was fast developing into a well established and a vibrant society, there was still no bank – and no local currency.
The laws of economics being what they are, something else had to take its place as a medium of exchange, and the most commonly used alternative was liquor. Rum was selling at more than twenty times its nominal value, and its popularity as a negotiating medium was embraced by all sections of the community – including Governor Lachlan Macquarie himself.
It was, though, a clearly unsustainable situation, and in 1812, the Governor set in motion a plan to resolve the colony’s currency crisis by importing 40,000 Spanish Silver Dollars.
To stop the coins disappearing into traders’ pockets, he had them punched-out and re-stamped, making them useless outside Australia. In the process, each dollar became two coins: the large donut-like outer ring, and the punched-out inner disc.
The newly created ring was re-stamped with a value of five shillings, the year 1813, and had the issuing authority of New South Wales around the inner circumference. This became the 1813 Holey Dollar.
The circular inner was re-stamped with a crown, the year 1813, the issuing authority and the value of fifteen pence. This became The Colonial Dump.
The coins provided a vital short-term solution to the colony’s currency crisis and remained in official circulation for 16 years, before being withdrawn in 1829 when the Sterling standard was re-imposed.
In all, 39,910 Holey Dollars and 39,910 Colonial Dumps were released. A total of 27,161 Holey Dollars and 10,103 Dumps were shipped to London to be melted down and sold off as bullion silver. Of those that didn’t go to the smelter, there are now only some 300 known surviving Holey Dollars (around 200 of them in private hands) and about 800 Dumps.
Better than a keg of rum any day.
Available for sale in my online shop.
For more information on the history of the Australian Holey Dollar visit the link below:
