Lot 42
A unique specimen which is likely Australia's earliest surviving Dump
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Provenance:
- Ex W Mira Collection Exhibited:
- Coins, Australia & New Zealand Literature:
- Coins, Monies & Stamps Medium:
- 355 Circa:
- Collectibles Notes:
- Collectors of Australian Colonial coins should be aware of the contemporary forgeries of the NSW 1813 Dump that turn up from time to time. In a penal colony inhabited by a large number of resourceful criminals, it was hardly surprising that someone would look to make copies of a coin with such a simple design. These crude forgeries only needed to be passed off to the unsuspecting in a quick transaction, and so were struck in cheap copper and then coated in a silvery lead wash to give them the look of the real silver dumps. However, it should be realised that not all copper dumps were crude forgeries meant to fool. The late Dr W.J.D. Mira, who was widely acknowledged as the foremost expert on Australian Colonial coins, held in his collection both D2 and E3 type varieties of dumps that were struck in copper, but which exactly mirrored the silver strikings. Miras work The Holey Dollars of New South Wales A Pictorial Record of Known Surviving Specimens which was published in 1988 is still regarded as the standard reference work for collectors of Holey Dollars and Dumps. The question to be asked is why D2 and E3 Dumps were struck in copper in the first place and by whom. Mira speculated that copper trials of both Holey Dollars and Dumps were struck with the imprimatur of Governor Macquarie by the convict die-maker William Henshall, to test the machine(ry) before it was used for the silver strikings, and hence the existence of the D2 and E3 Copper Dumps in his collection. They too like the forged copper dumps show the remnants of a silvery lead wash to demonstrate the appearance of the silver strikings to the authorities. It is possible that the silver wash may have been added latter as the fact that both the D2 and E3 copper dumps in Mira's collection were heavily circulated suggests that sometime later they were passed off as silver dumps. That copper trials were struck was re-affirmed in 2007 with a new discovery of a trial strike of a Holey Dollar on a Great Britain 1799 Halfpenny which sold for $233,000. This coin turned up surprisingly on Vancouver Island in Canada accompanied by a copper Dump of an unknown type, which unfortunately was sold off before the significance of the find was realised, as there is strong circumstantial evidence that both trial strikes that had been souvenired by William Henshall himself. Because of his hands-on knowledge Henshall was always a prime suspect for the forged copper dumps that were circulating in the Colony, and perhaps as a deterrent he received an unusually severe flogging for trespassing on Sydney's Domain on the direct orders of Governor Macquarie his previous employer. The suspicions were never proven, and when his wife died in 1817, Henshall decided it was time to take leave of Sydney and sailed on the Chapman for England presumably to reconnect with his long abandoned first family. There are no further records of his life or death, but interestingly there is a very sizeable number of Henshalls (an uncommon name in a small community) buried on Vancouver Island where the two copper trials were later discovered, strongly suggesting that this may be the final resting place of Australias first 'Mint Master.' In line with our research the E3 Type were the first dumps struck which would make this unique copper trial the earliest surviving Dump. A true museum piece.
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