Weight tolerance on pennies.

[pra666]

Does anyone have any information on the weight tolerance of Australian pennies please; particularly those of George V? I had someone show me a group of around 10 uncirculated coins today; dated from 1911 to 1935, with weights varying from 9.33 to 9.55 grams. The person who brought them around was particularly concerned about those that were overweight, although to me all coins but one looked like normal business strikes of the period.

[Mister T]

Not sure - maybe I've read an article somewhere along the way but I can't remember specifics - maybe Jon Saxton's old site? Probably a few different places creating the planchets in that period so I wouldn't be surprised by some variability.

[Sapyx]

Here is the original Coinage Act of 1909: https://www.legislation.gov.au/C1909A00006/latest/text

Scroll down to the bottom and you'll find the appended Schedule, with all the tolerances - labelled under their technical term "remedies" - for each denomination.

You will see the official weight of a penny is just under 9.45 grams, and the remedy (or tolerance) is just under 0.19 grams. Which would give a legally acceptable range of between 9.26 and 9.64 grams. So all of your coins are technically within tolerance.

You'll note the tolerance for silver and gold coins is much tighter - about three times tighter, percentage-wise. That's because silver and gold coins were still supposed to have an official intrinsic value, while the copper coins did not.

[pra666]

Here is the original Coinage Act of 1909: https://www.legislation.gov.au/C1909A00006/latest/text

Scroll down to the bottom and you'll find the appended Schedule, with all the tolerances - labelled under their technical term "remedies" - for each denomination.

You will see the official weight of a penny is just under 9.45 grams, and the remedy (or tolerance) is just under 0.19 grams. Which would give a legally acceptable range of between 9.26 and 9.64 grams. So all of your coins are technically within tolerance.

You'll note the tolerance for silver and gold coins is much tighter - about three times tighter, percentage-wise. That's because silver and gold coins were still supposed to have an official intrinsic value, while the copper coins did not.

Thank you Sapx. 
PS Love the Marcus Aurelius quote too