Proclamation Coin. 1787 George III Silver Shilling S# 3743

At the time the 1787 shilling appeared in circulation, King George III had taken on the appearance of an old man, in real life as well as in the portrait which appeared on these coins, as he was increasingly beset by illness.

Early colonial New South Wales produced very little in the way of manufactured goods, with the vast majority of goods brought in by ship. With traders often leaving once payment was secured, the colony faced constant shortages in circulating coinage. In an effort to combat this and retain coinage, Governor King issued a proclamation in 1800 whereby fixing the values of certain circulating coinage. This was known as the ‘Proclamation’ and it was done in an effort to stop currency being removed by traders.

The proclamation deemed that certain circulating coinage would have a value above the actual intrinsic or circulating value of the coin itself, with the rationale being that a coin with a higher accepted value was more likely to stay within the colony than to be removed by traders. It was also believed that this would encourage spending in the colony because of its extra buying power.

Values shown are in pounds, shillings, and pence:

Great Britain: Gold Guinea, 1£ 2s
Portugal: Gold Johanna, 4£
Portugal: Gold Half Johanna, 2£
India: Gold Mohur, 1£ 17s
India: Gold Pagoda, 8s
India: Silver Rupee, 2s 6d
Spain: Silver 8 Reales, 5s
Netherlands: Gold Ducat, 9s 6d
Netherlands: Silver Guilder (Gulden), 2s
Great Britain: Silver Shilling, 1s 1d
Great Britain: Cartwheel Copper Penny, 2d