Why the name
"Unicorn Penny"?
As noted in the main section of this website, the Unicorn Penny's rediscovery had solved a mystery which dated back to 1965 when the prominent numismatist and first editor of The Australian Coin Review (Australia's first coin magazine), John Dean, compiled his catalogue of Australian coin varieties.
As noted in the main section of this website, the Unicorn Penny's rediscovery had solved a mystery which dated back to 1965 when the prominent numismatist and first editor of The Australian Coin Review (Australia's first coin magazine), John Dean, compiled his catalogue of Australian coin varieties.
Dean, who listed the 4th variety of the 1931 penny ("P31D") with a legend containing curved-base letters on the reverse, noted only six such coins across Australia.
Dean, who listed the 4th variety of the 1931 penny ("P31D") with a legend containing curved-base letters on the reverse, noted only six such coins across Australia.
Given its extreme rarity, the coin soon became an object of desire for collectors. However, those actively searching for the P31D variety conveniently began to ignore Dean's curved-base letter notation (as the coin was almost impossible to find) and eventually resigned the P31D category to a similarly rare 1931 penny variety that was emerging at the time - the 'dropped 1' Indian obverse penny with flat-base letters on the reverse legend.
Given its extreme rarity, the coin soon became an object of desire for collectors. However, those actively searching for the P31D variety conveniently began to ignore Dean's curved-base letter notation (as the coin was almost impossible to find) and eventually resigned the P31D category to a similarly rare 1931 penny variety that was emerging at the time - the 'dropped 1' Indian obverse penny with flat-base letters on the reverse legend.
With approximately fifty examples of the flat-base letter variety being identified, the coin went on to become known as the benchmark 4th variety of the 1931 penny, while Dean's P31D variety fell into obscurity.
With approximately fifty examples of the flat-base letter variety being identified, the coin went on to become known as the benchmark 4th variety of the 1931 penny, while Dean's P31D variety fell into obscurity.
As a result, the existence of the curved-base letter variety became somewhat of a mystery. Throughout the years, a handful of collectors believed Dean's observations and claimed to have spotted the curved-base letter variety, while most experts denied that such a coin actually existed - hence the name 'Unicorn Penny'.
As a result, the existence of the curved-base letter variety became somewhat of a mystery. Throughout the years, a handful of collectors believed Dean's observations and claimed to have spotted the curved-base letter variety, while most experts denied that such a coin actually existed - hence the name 'Unicorn Penny'.
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