Where Did Ansell Sovereign Gold Come From? Struck With Australian Gold

Interesting articles about Ansell.

I stand to be corrected:-
As far as I know, half and full sovereigns 1955 -1868 were struck from 22 ct gold, but alloyed with silver, not copper. The color difference is obvious, relative to Sydney Mint coins struck from 1969 onwards.

It seems to me that Ansell must have experimented with Sydney Mint Half and full Sovereigns made from this gold /silver alloy.
The gold sent to Sydney for refining almost certainly came from many different sources in NSW and Victoria, and only one, or perhaps only a few, of those mines produced the problem impurities, while most did not.

Perhaps this theory would help to explain why Ansell Half and full Sovereigns are rare.

As mentioned in the linked articles, Ansell found a cheap way of dealing with those impurities by rapid cooling in water, without resorting to much more expensive refining methods.

It seems that the problem was solved after 1870, by simply producing gold coins in 22ct gold, the remaining alloy being o copper, as per standard Royal Mint specification.

Very interesting!