Silver Australian Penny And Halfpenny

Good point, I hadn't noticed the difference in size. In that case, somebody went to a lot of trouble for a novelty coin. I did photograph them together as is - no photoshopping.

The coins are THE SAME SIZE. The original photos above were a bit confusing comparing a penny and a halfpenny side by side. I see the error now. These are more photos comparing each corn side by side. You can see both coins are the same size as ordinary pennies and halfpennies. The pennies are also the same thickness.
So the question again begs answering - Were there any silver coins made for these years and denominations? Or did someone silver plate them?

Thanks. Your help is most appreciated. My question has now been answered.

Wow....on line images can be very misleading.

Well, actually, plating a coin to make it resemble a coin of higher value was (and still is) against anti-counterfeit laws. If you silver-plate a halfpenny, you end up with a coin that kind-of resembles a shilling, and a plated penny resembles a florin. I know, the sizes are wrong, the edges are wrong, and the reverse designs are wrong, but it still happened so it was more than a theoretical problem. So if this kind of plating had been done prior to 1965, the coins would technically have been counterfeits and thus unable to be spent.

You could copper-plate a shilling or florin, and that would be OK, since that's a value downgrade, not an upgrade. But silver-plating a copper coin, or gold-plating a copper or silver coin, was illegal.


Not even the melters would really want it, as the presence of the plating adds extra complication to the refining process. Probably best to just use it as a keychain, until they break.