World, Australia, New South Wales, silver "dump" 1813, centre of holey dollar

In the early days of the colony of New South Wales, there was a chronic currency shortage. A wild mixture of foreign coins circulated, and bottles of rum were also used for purchases until this practice was banned in 1806. In 1813, the governor  Lachlan Macquarie, decided to have £10,000 worth of Spanish dollars (8 reales), approximately 40,000 pieces, converted into local currency, with the assistance of a convicted coin forger.

The centre of the coins was stamped out, and struck with the name of the colony and the denomination (fifteen pence), while the holed dollar was then countermarked to circulate at 5 shillings. The total mintage ended up being 39910 pieces of each denomination, due to manufacturing errors. The coins entered circulation in 1814. By 1822, more regal coinage was available, and these emergency issues were withdrawn and largely destroyed. The dumps saw heavier circulation than the holey dollars, although more dumps survived. 

Fair to Fine, old tone, trace of undertype design on obverse. Rare, an example of the iconic first coinage struck in Australia. 

KM 1.1