1939 Roo Halfpenny, And A Question

Getting back on topic, I have always wondered why the 39 roo has a far higher book price than the 44 Half penny. Is it simply because it is the first roo half penny, with a much lower mintage than the 39 COA reverse? The 44 has a lower mintage than the 39 roo, so has me thinking, was the 39 roo reverse exported for metal value at some time?
By the way KurtS, very nice coin, as nancyc said, you could easily give it a Fine+ or F15 grade.

what does the 1d or 2d or 1/2d always mean?

farnbey is probably right, exported for metal..

G'day,
quote: "what does the 1d or 2d or 1/2d always mean?"
I feel old ...
what we called a penny was, historically, descended from an ancient Roman coin, called a "denarius". This was abbreviated to "d". Very confusing when I was a boy. Because of a similar history, the abbreviation for pound (= 20 shillings) was "L", for "Librum" (or similar). Shilling was abbreviated to "s", but not because shilling began with "s". No, the shilling was descended from the Roman "solidus".

So, and this will sound hilarious to people born after 1966, "L.s.d." used to be a synonym for "money" generally. As it happens, the other type of LSD became a topic of conversation about the time that decimal currency was introduced.

Back to your legitimate question:
1d = one penny
2d = two pennies, usually written twopence, but pronounced "tuppence". Australia never had a 2d coin, but the Brits did.
1/2d = one-half penny, usually written halfpenny, but pronounced "ha'penny".

The Brits went decimal about 1970. The pound remained the same. The shilling disappeared. The old pennies, etc disappeared. Instead of being equal to 240 old pennies, the pound was now divided into 100 New Pence, which were abbreviated "p", which you have probably heard of. A few years after decimal conversion, the Brits dropped "New Penny/Pence" down to just "Penny/Pence".

Peter