1 Sovereign - Victoria

Australia's branch mints — Sydney from 1855, Melbourne from 1872 — were established precisely because shipping raw gold from the colony to London for striking was costing more than the gold was worth in freight and insurance. The Sydney Mint operated from a converted building originally intended as a branch of the Royal Mint's coin exchange facility, making it technically the first royal mint outside the British Isles.

During this issue's production window, mint mark placement shifted and die quality varied considerably between the two facilities. Melbourne sovereigns of the early 1870s in particular are known to exhibit softer strike definition on certain dates, attributable to the new facility working through equipment calibration in its first years of full production.