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Reginald Scaife, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria
Image: 1 Ounce
Source: Museum Victoria
Reginald Scaife was manager of the Kangaroo Office. He won a certificate at 1854 Melbourne Exhibition at which he struck tin commemorative medals.
His association with the Kangaroo Office as a whole was less illustrious. Running the mint was expensive and time-consuming. Coupled with this, banks had begun buying into gold, and there was British concern the Australian fields would follow California in terms of financial chaos.
Scaife began to make military buttons in the mint machine, and later began processing copper tokens valued at a penny. The popularity of the copper penny increased when authorities allowed them free circulation in Melbourne as they had in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Scaife later turned his interests to the manufacture and sale of commemorative medals made from tin from the Ovens River. In 1857 the Kangaroo Office was wound up and the press sold to Thomas Stokes. Scaife returned to England after some years, having worked as an agent for the Victoria Insurance Company in the intervening period.
References:
Sharples, J. (2001). 'Gold and Entrepreneurial Culture: The Kangaroo Office and its Private Mint for Victoria', in A World Turned Upside Down, Eds. Kerry Cardell and Cliff Cumming, Humanities Research Centre monograph no 14, Australian National University, Canberra.
(showing 1 - 10) 10 items
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Pattern Token - 2 Pence, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1854
Copper Two Pence Pattern token, minted by W.J. Taylor of London. It was supposedly issued from the Kangaroo Office, in Melbourne, Victoria. Reginald Scaife of the Kangaroo Office, Melbo ...
From: London, United Kingdom Images: 2 -
Pattern Token - 2 Pence, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1854
Copper Two Pence Pattern token, minted by W.J. Taylor of London. It was supposedly issued from the Kangaroo Office, in Melbourne, Victoria. Reginald Scaife of the Kangaroo Office, Melbo ...
From: London, United Kingdom Images: 2 -
Certificate - Exhibition of Produce and Works of Industry, Awarded to Reginald Scaife, Mel ...
Lithograph certificate from the Exhibition of Produce and Works of Industry, Melbourne 1854, awarded to Reginald Scaife, manager of the Kangaroo Office. The certificate was designed by ...
Images: 2 -
Medal - Melbourne Exhibition Commemorative, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria, Australi ...
Tin Medal, minted by the Kangaroo Office, Melbourne in 1854. The medal was struck with tin from the Ovens River at the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition by Reginald Scaife of the Kangaroo Offic ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 2 -
Medal - Melbourne Exhibition Commemorative, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria, Australi ...
Tin Medal, minted by the Kangaroo Office, Melbourne in 1854. The medal was struck with tin from the Ovens River at the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition by Reginald Scaife of the Kangaroo Offic ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 2 -
Medal - Melbourne Exhibition Commemorative, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria, Australi ...
Tin Medal, minted by the Kangaroo Office, Melbourne in 1854. The medal was struck with tin from the Ovens River at the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition by Reginald Scaife of the Kangaroo Offic ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 2 -
Medal - Melbourne Exhibition Commemorative, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria, Australi ...
Tin Medal, minted by the Kangaroo Office, Melbourne in 1854. The medal was struck with tin from the Ovens River at the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition by Reginald Scaife of the Kangaroo Offic ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 2 -
Medal - Melbourne Exhibition Commemorative, Victoria, Australia, 1854
Australia Victoria Melbourne Medal - Melbourne 1854 Exhibition Tin Commemorative Mint: Kangaroo Office Other Details: This medal (38 mm diameter) was struck with tin from the Ovens Riv ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 2 -
Pattern Token - 4 Pence, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1854
Copper Four Pence Pattern token, minted by W.J. Taylor of London. It was supposedly issued from the Kangaroo Office, in Melbourne, Victoria. Reginald Scaife of the Kangaroo Office, Melb ...
From: London, United Kingdom Images: 2 -
Medal - Melbourne Exhibition Commemorative, Kangaroo Office, Melbourne, Victoria, Australi ...
Tin Medal, minted by the Kangaroo Office, Melbourne in 1854. The medal was struck with tin from the Ovens River at the 1854 Melbourne Exhibition by Reginald Scaife of the Kangaroo Offic ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 2
