1956 Perth Proof Penny - PCGS PR62RD

Australia, 1956 Perth Proof Penny -

It’s not often that you encounter a fully red, untoned 1956 Perth proof penny, so when one landed in my mail box last month, I called up the owner, a collector from Sydney’s northern beaches, and struck a deal. The coin photographed above is certainly one of the finest 1956 Perth proof pennies I’ve seen on the market for some time, and the finest of all 1956 Perth proof pennies I’ve had in stock in the last two years. The fields are totally devoid of significant spots, toning, or fingerprints, while the strike is as crisp as you’d expect on a commercially-made proof coin. Unlike the later commercial proofs from the Perth mint, the early Perth coppers were struck from polished dies, resulting in what appears to be hairlines on the surfaces. Consequently, the 1956 Perth proof penny (and other early Perth proof coppers) generally grade quite low with PCGS. In fact, don’t be scared off by the grade of this coin. Numerically, 62 is quite low, but you should always analyse a coin’s population within a context: The average grade of a PCGS-certified full red 1956 Perth proof penny is 62, while the average grade of, say, a full red 1963 proof penny is 66 (4/14). A PR62RD 1956 Perth proof penny is therefore quite decent, and should not be overlooked on account of its numerically low grade: It is as good as a 1963 proof penny in PR66RD! On the whole, this is a great coin for a proof coin collector, and one of the nicest early post-1955 Perth proofs I’ve seen. Mintage 417 pieces, with only a handful in full red.