1939 Kangaroo Halfpenny
Australia's 1939 halfpennies were struck with with two major designs - Blakemore's token design and Kruger Gray's kangaroo design. Most other denominations had their reverses updated in 1938 but the halfpenny's new reverse came later, and even then in 1939, 4,382,000 halfpennies were struck with the old design and just 504,000 were struck with the new design, making the 1939 kangaroo halfpenny a scarce coin.
Within the strikings of the 1939 kangaroo halfpennies there are a number of varieties: the dies for the new design were produced at the Royal Mint, London but they did not correctly fit the Melbourne Mint's die presses, which necessitated some changes (p214, Briggs, Australia Copper/Bronze/Brass Halfpenny Die Types, 2016).
| Reverse Die | Notes |
|---|---|
| Fur on arm Deep rib-cage in front of knee Both serifs on base of Y of PENNY | Very rare |
| No fur on arm Shallow rib-cage in front of knee Right serif on base of Y of PENNY missing | Most common |
| No fur on arm Deep rib-cage in front of knee Right serif on base of Y of PENNY missing | Use for proofs |
The original dies were apparently used to strike a small number of coins which were subsequently released into circulation: they are rare, but as it is a comparatively recent discovery, no doubt more will come to light. The updated design is largely the same but the details of the fur on the kangaroo's arm and the kangaroo's rib-cage are gone. Curiously, the right serif on the foot of the Y in PENNY has been removed - possibly in error unlike the other changes. The design used for the 1939 halfpenny proofs appears to represent an intermediate design as it still has the deep rib-cage of the original design - possibly is was tested but found to be unsatisfactory for long term use and so was relegated to the striking of proofs. Interestingly a proof is known with the original design but there is speculation that it was in fact struck at the Royal Mint, London (https://benchmarkcoincatalogue.com/coin/412?pg=79).