What are the different mint symbols in Australia?

Answer 1

There have only ever been four Mints in Australia, the Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Canberra Mints.

The Royal Australian Mint Sydney, was opened as a branch of the Royal Mint London in 1855 and closed in 1926 with all minting responsibilities being dispersed to Melbourne and Perth. During its period of operation, the mintmark was "S" on British Coins. On Australian predecimal coins, there was either no mintmark at all, or a complicated placement of dots on Pennies and Halfpennies.

The Royal Australian Mint Melbourne, was opened as a branch of the Royal Mint London in 1872 and closed in 1967 after the introduction of decimal currency with all minting being taken over by the newly opened RAM Canberra. During its period of operation, the mintmark was "M" on British coins. On Australian Coins, there was either no mintmark at all, or a complicated placement of dots on Pennies and Halfpennies, or an "M" on all other predecimal coins.

The Royal Australian Mint Perth, was opened as a branch of the Royal Mint London in 1899 and is still operating. It is currently owned by the Western Australian Government and is responsible for producing most of Australia's bullion. During its period of operation, the mintmark was "P" on British coins. On Australian predecimal Penny and Halfpenny coins, there was a dot "." placed variously after the "Y" in PENNY (PENNY.) or after the "A" in AUSTRALIA (AUSTRALIA.) or between the "KG" (designers initials) (K.G). All silver coins were minted at the Melbourne Mint.

The Royal Australian Mint Canberra, was opened in 1965 and is still operating. Since 1982, it produces all of Australia's circulating coins and mints coins for many other countries. Since it is the only mint producing Australia's circulating coinage, there are no mintmarks used since 1981.

Australian predecimal coins have occasionally been minted overseas at London (L) or (PL), Heaton Birmingham (H), San Francisco (S), Denver (D), Bombay and Calcutta (I).

I am not even going to attempt to explain mintmarks on Australian decimal coins. Where mintmarks are used, these mostly include blunted first or second whiskers on the 1 cent coins, blunted claws on the 2 cent coin, blunted spines on the 5 cent coin, etc.

If you have a great need to know the details, get hold of a "Pocket Guide to Australian Coins and Banknotes" by Greg McDonald. It is a relatively inexpensive and detailed wealth of information.