Wedding tradition

A key element of wedding folklore, detailing what the bride should wear on her wedding day to ensure good luck, most people will have heard the rhyme ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’. Many won’t have heard the most important part though – ‘and a sixpence in her shoe’.

Traditionally worn in the bride’s left shoe, the sixpence represents good luck and prosperity in marriage. According to custom, the coin was slipped beneath the bride’s heel as she was about to walk down the aisle.

The Australian sixpence

First minted in 1910, the reverse of Australian sixpence was designed by William Henry James Blackmore. The design, which remained unchanged for 50 years, featured the Australian Coat of Arms, which included a kangaroo and an emu either side of a shield, and a scroll beneath with the inscription 'ADVANCE AUSTRALIA'. The sixpence was eventually withdrawn from circulation with the introduction of decimal currency in 1966.