Sale No: 250
Lot No: 3388
Symbol:
Cat No: Collection
1852 simple pattern 'Victoria. Gold License' [sic], No.209 for June 1852 issued to "Pat Galway" to dig, search for, and remove Gold in the Loddon District, for the month of June 1852, characteristic faults, very rare. Probably the original pattern. [NB: in English-English 'license' is a verb; 'licence' is a noun. The continuing error suggests an American influence, perhaps associated with the 1849 gold rush in California]
The fee of One Pound Ten Shillings (£1/10/-) was for only one month of often wasted effort. The licence had to be renewed monthly & carried at all times by the miner. From the outset, miners complained that the fee was exhorbitant & unfair. Organised resistance spread throughout the goldfields and led to the armed uprising at the Ballarat miners' camp, the Eureka Stockade, on 3.12.1854. We expect the survival of the few known examples is because of miners leaving the Diggings. (Image1)
Estimate AU$2,000
Opening AU$ 1,500.00
Sold...AU$ 2,600.00
Closed..Mar-02-2023, 18:00:00 EST
Sold For 2600
Sale No: 250
Lot No: 3389
Symbol:
1853 with Regulations Added 'Victoria. Gold License' [sic], No.231 for July 1853 issued to "G Cunningham" to dig, search for, and remove Gold (District not named), for the month of July 1853, characteristic faults (folds reinforced). The printed regulations included: "Every Licensed Person must always have his License with him ready to be produced whenever demanded by a commissioner, or Persons acting under his instructions, otherwise he is liable to be proceeded against as an unlicensed Person". This requirement meant that any surviving licences would, inevitably, be defective. (Image1)
Estimate AU$2,000
Opening AU$ 1,500.00
Sold...AU$ 2,100.00
Closed..Mar-02-2023, 18:00:00 EST
Sold For 2100
Sale No: 250
Lot No: 3390
Symbol:
Cat No: Collection
1854 slight reduction in cost '£2 Gold License [sic] - Three Months', No.130 dated 4th March 1854 issued to "John Bailey" to mine or dig for Gold within the Colony of Victoria, for three months ending 4th June 1854, unusually fine condition with only minor folds. Very rare. [The Eureka Stockade rebellion occurred in Ballarat on 3.12.1854. In the aftermath, Royal Commissioners investigated conditions on the goldfields, and by April 1855, the government abolished the gold licence and introduced an annual miner's right, for a cost of 5/- (a mere Five Pence per month] (Image1)
Estimate AU$2,000
Opening AU$ 1,500.00
Sold...AU$ 1,900.00
Closed..Mar-02-2023, 18:00:00 EST
Sold For 1900
Sale No: 250
Lot No: 3391
Symbol:
1867 post-reform 5/- 'Miner's Right' issued at Stawell to "Benjamin Taylor" of Pleasant Creek; and four 1899-1910 2/6d Miner's Rights issued at Bendigo to "Francis Thomas Day" of Bendigo, some characteristic faults but generally fine for these. [We could not establish when the annual fee was halved to 2/6d, but it was apparently in the late-1890s] (Image1)
Estimate AU$250
Opening AU$ 190.00
Sold...AU$ 340.00
Closed..Mar-02-2023, 18:00:00 EST
Sold For 340
Sale No: 250
Lot No: 3392
Symbol:
1894-95 four 5/- Miner's Rights issued at Ballarat to "Clara Styham" x2, "Richard Berriman" or "Benjamin Gear"; plus 1906 2/6d Miner's Right issued at Ballarat to "Elizabeth Hilby", characteristic faults but quite fine for these. Miners' Rights issued to women must be rare. (Image1)
