1933/2 Overdate One Penny

The George V Penny series, lasting throughout George V's reign from 1911 to 1936, features a partitioned, circular reverse design with COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA around the outer ring with the year at the bottom and ONE PENNY within the inner ring. The obverse features the crowned bust of King George V facing to the left and the legend, GEORGIVS V D.G. BRITT : OMN : REX F. D. IND : IMP ( George V, by the grace of god, Ruler and King of Britain, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India ). Like most George V series, this a very popular series to collect. In lower grade, all dates can be acquired at reasonable expense excluding the 1930 Penny. Type set collectors would do well aiming for the 1911, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936 for good strikes, the 1911 especially as it is often found with full mint brilliance. This series was struck at the London, Heaton, Bombay, Sydney and Melbourne mints. From 1911 to 1915 the London mint struck the pennies unless they bear the mintmark H under the lower scroll on the reverse , which indicates they were struck at the Heaton mint. From 1916 to 1918 the Calcutta mint struck pennies bearing the mintmark I under the lower scroll on the reverse. From 1920 to 1924 and in 1926 the Sydney mint struck pennies in conjunction with the Melbourne mint, which is only differentiated by the 1920 dot above and dot below which were struck at the Sydney and Melbourne mints respectively. The rest of the series was struck by the Melbourne mint.

The 1933/2 overdate penny has been acknowledged as the only British Commonwealth 20th century bronze coin overdate, which were struck by six partially finished 1932-dated die (Holland, P. M, 2002) . These dies were over-hubbed in late 1932 with the 1933 date, most likely to save time and money. Of the six dies, four types are identifiable based on particular features in the second '3'. These four types show slight differences in both loops of the '3'; the tip of the original '2' protruding from the upper loop varies in size and may be combined with prongs or spikes projecting out from the top of the lower loop (or these may be completely absent as is the case of one type) (Holland, P. M, 2002) .

The size and shape of the protuding tip of the '2' can be accounted for by the positioning and shape of the numeral in the partially finished die. The bowl (the rounded section of the '2') could be slightly towards the left or right, and the tip slightly longer or shorter. The prongs or spikes in the lower loop of the '3' are evidence of the downstroke of the '2'. Classification of the remaining two types has been suggested, with one showing only the tip of the '2', and the other showing a three-stepped tip, the bowl, and spike of the '2'. (Lever, F, 2015) .

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