Australian Shilling KGV 1921 S “star” KM# 26
1921 S Shilling rev in F 
1921 S Shilling obv in F
This is an interesting coin on account of its relatively low mintage and unique reverse design.
Grading Fine (VF20-25)
The coin pictured is in Fine grade – on the reverse, although showing wear, all of the letters in the scroll (“ADVANCE AUSTRALIA”) are clearly legible. I believe that’s really a minimum requirement for the coin to make that grade.
The special bit is the star above the date, which indicates that this example came from the Sydney mint at a time when there was some concern over the fineness of silver coinage – Great Britain reduced the purity of its silver coins to 50% silver from 1920 onwards. The star on these shillings from Australia shows that they are sterling silver (92.5%).
As it happened, Aussie coins remained on the sterling silver standard up until 1945 and the ’21 shilling became the only one to ever have a star on one side.
Happy collecting!
