![Australia, Assay Office, Type II 'Adelaide' Pound, 1852 [ACP-1] - Image 2](https://colonialcoins.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ACP-1-1.jpg)
Description
British Empire, Australia, time of Queen Victoria (1837-1901 AD), Gold ‘Adelaide’ Pound (8.76g, 22mm), 1852, Type II with Dentilated inner border, Unofficial Issue by the Adelaide Assay Office, South Australia. Obverse: Saint Edward’s Crown above date central within inner dotted and dentilated border, city-name “ADELAIDE” below, “GOVERNMENT ASSAY OFFICE” surrounds above. Reverse: Denomination “VALUE ONE POUND” central within inner dotted and dentilated border, fineness “22 CARATS.” below, weight in pennyweights and grains surrounds above “WEIGHT. 5 DWT: 15 GRS:”. KM-2; Friedberg-3. Mintage of 24,768 (Type I inclusive). A bold and handsome example, the obverse more so, some trifling marks to reverse, details Extremely Fine, a denomination sitting at the pinnacle of Australian gold numismatic issues.
The Adelaide Assay Office was a South Australian government institution established in February 1852 AD that played a crucial role during the early period of the Australian gold rush, primarily in refining ingots under local authority of a hastily prepared piece of legislation, titled ‘The Bullion Act’. Several months into refining, discontent from the local community prompted an amending to the Act in order to authorize the striking of gold coins, and, without Royal mint approval, a mint was opened to strike a new coin, the ‘Adelaide Pound’. With no Royal Mint branches yet established on overseas territories, and thus none on Australian soil, the ‘Adelaide Pound’ became the first minted gold coin for the colony, regardless of it being an unofficial issue not endorsed by the British Government. Production began nine months into the twelve-month lifespan of ‘The Bullion Act’ and therefore only a small number of coins were minted, with a reported mintage of 24,768. Each piece was struck to a weight of 135 grains of 22ct ‘Crown Gold’, resulting in an AGW of 0.2578 Troy ounces, and was given a nominal face value of one pound – this resulted in an intrinsic bullion value higher than the face value, as at the time a pound was 0.2354 troy ounces of gold (a sovereign of twenty shillings was struck to a weight of 123.2745 grains of 22ct ‘crown gold’). Once this fact was known by British authorities, the vast majority were promptly exported to London and melted down.
