1942 Australia One Penny – King George VI

Design

1938 -1948 All One Penny coins in this period were as follows.

Diameter 30.8mm

Weight 9.45grams

Edge – Plain

Bronze composition: 97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin.

Obverse: Has a portrait of King George VI by Thomas H. Paget

Reverse: The bounding kangaroo designed by George Kuger Gray

There were in total 5 varites of One Penny coins minted between 1911 and 1966 when decimalisation occured.

A dot above the top scroll indicates the Melbourne or Sydney Mints.
A dot above the lower scroll indicates the Sydney Mint.
A dot below the lower scroll indicates the Melbourne Mint.
All Pennies with no Mint Mark were minted at Melbourne, Perth and Sydney Mints using identical dies.
An “H” below the bottom scroll indicates the Heaton Mint in Birmingham, England (1912 and 1915 pennies only).
An “I” below the bottom scroll indicates the Calcutta Mint in India (1917 and 1918 pennies only).
From 1937 to 1964, the Penny had a left facing hopping kangaroo with the word “AUSTRALIA” around the circumference at the top and the word “PENNY” around the circumference at the bottom.
The year is below the kangaroo’s tail and the Commonwealth Star is below the kangaroo’s head.
A dot after the “Y.” in PENNY or the “A.” in AUSTRALIA or situated between the designers initials “K.G” (Kuger Gray and not King George as many believe)  indicates the Perth Mint.
A “PL” below the year indicates the London Mint (1951 pennies only).
An “I” below King George VI’s neck indicates the Bombay Mint in India (1942 and 1943 pennies only).
All other Pennies were minted in Melbourne and have no Mint Mark at all.
These mintmarks do not apply to all other Australian pre-decimal coins with the exception of a few and they certainly do not apply to any of the Australian decimal coins from 1966 onwards.