Australian Proclamation Type Set, Circulation Strikes (1700-1826)

In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Australia served as a penal colony for Great Britain who transported more than 165,000 convicts to her shores. To accommodate the needs of the prisoners, guards and administrators, Philip Gidley King, the governor of New South Wales, decreed in his Proclamation of 1800 that eleven coins from five different countries would serve as the country’s currency. The proclamation listed the coins and gave them an official value. These coins served as a way to barter until the 1850s when the sovereign became the recognized currency.

Notes: This set requires 14 coins which include the five varieties of the Portuguese 4 Escudos (or a 6400 Reis from it's Brazilian colony) and the two varieties of the Spanish 8 Reales. This set has bonuses. Please see the Set Composition for a listing.