Almost a year after the coronation of King George V in May 1910 (Wikipedia, 2011) , the Royal mint, London began to strike threepence for Australia bearing the new portrait of King George V, designed by Australian sculptor, Sir Bertram MacKennel. The late production was due to surplus, unworn 1910 dies bearing the bust of the late Edward VII remaining and the strong demand for circulating currency in Australia, especially the lower denominations. A total of 8 million threepence were produced in 1911 though this figure includes those 1910 threepence struck during the year also. It is estimated that only 2 million bore the date 1911. The date is almost always well struck up, especially the reverse and well defined reverse rims usually protected it from wear right down to the low AU grades. This hard wearing reverse created the misconception that the obverse of the 1911 is often poorly struck up with many coins bearing lustrous reverse s.
