1931 Dropped 1 Penny with Indian obverse - PCGS VF35

Australia, 1931 Dropped 1 Penny with Indian obverse -

Like the 1924 penny with Indian obverse I listed earlier today, the 1931 “dropped 1” penny with Indian obverse is a popular variety. The type, characterised by a lower or misaligned second figure “1” in the date and an obverse struck by the Indian die, turns up from time-to-time in circulated grade, and is generally well-contested at auction. They are described as “extremely rare” in Ian McConnelly’s Australian Pre-Decimal Coin Varieties, and tend to appear on the market once or twice a year, always in circulated grade. Going by market appearances, the type is rarer than the 1930 penny, the 1923 halfpenny, 1852 Adelaide Pound, 1922/1 overdate threepence, and 2000 one dollar mule, although it trades at only a fraction of the price of the 1930 penny and 1852 pound in comparable grade. Meanwhile, mint records at the Melbourne Mint indicate that fewer than 1,000 pieces were minted. I have had this rare variety in stock on only four separate occasions since 2008, and this coin here, photographed above and graded PCGS VF35, is the second-best of them. The last example I had in stock graded PCGS XF40 and sold for $3,900 last November, and I expect the coin on offer here to trade at a similar level, at $3,250. A very difficult coin that will perform strongly, in my view, should mainstream collectors decide to collect it.