The 1942 halfpennies

Characteristics
Designation | H42M.3B | H42P.3B | H42B.3C | H42B.3D
Mint | Melbourne | Perth | Bombay | Bombay
Mint mark | None | Y. | .H-Y. I below bust | .H-Y. I below bust
Mintage | 988,800 | 4,334,400 | 6,000,006 | «
Scarcity | Scarce | Common | Scarce | Rare

Notes on the Bombay mintings

Australian halfpennies dated 1942 were minted in Melbourne, Perth and Bombay. According to mint records the dies were sent to Bombay on 25th March 1942. The obverse die was used throughout 1942 with the addition of a mint mark comprising an I below the bust of George V but the reverse die sent from Melbourne was not used and a new die was fabricated in India. This die was very similar to the Melbourne die but had slightly different lettering and a different treatment of the kangaroo's face. Also, the design was in somewhat lower profile than on the die supplied from Melbourne. The majority of 1942 Bombay halfpennies were minted with this "type C" die but a few were struck with yet another tool prepared in Bombay, the "type D" reverse which featured tall denticles. The type D reverse was used for all 1943 halfpennies minted in Bombay.

Numismatists have wondered why the Bombay Mint should have bothered to make its own dies for the striking of Australian bronze coins in 1942 and 1943 when dies were supplied from Melbourne. Writing in JNAA#8 Paul Holland says of the pennies:

> These coins [1942 & 1943 pennies] display three distinctive new die types prepared at the Bombay Mint. This in itself presents a minor mystery since dies were supplied to the Bombay mint from Melbourne, but were apparently either lost or discarded in favor of new obverse and reverse dies prepared locally.

We know for certain that those dies didn't get lost because all the tools were shipped together and the halfpenny obverse was indeed used. My conjecture is that the coining presses in Bombay were not adequate for striking the coins using the tools supplied from Melbourne. Apparently the halfpenny obverse was acceptable but the halfpenny reverse and both the penny designs were too deep for the mint's equipment to render satisfactorily and the technicians at Bombay found it necessary to fabricate new tools in lower relief to overcome the difficulty.
If this hypothesis is correct then the mystery is not why new dies were made in 1942, but why yet more new ones were made for the 1943 issues.

Reverses
| H42M.3B Melbourne issue. No mint mark.
| H42P.3B Perth issue. Dot after Y.
| H43B.3C First Bombay issue. Dots before and after HALF PENNY.
| H43B.3D Second Bombay issue and precursor to the 1943 coin. Dots before and after HALF PENNY.

Close-up views of the Bombay halfpennies
| An enlargement of part of two 1942 Bombay halfpennies showing the different rim embellishment on the type C reverse (top) and the type D reverse (bottom).

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Most recent revision: 23rd September 2002
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