2016-04-13 Wed

A coin belonging to Tom Roberts, one of Australia's most prominent artists, was donated to the Prime Minister. It is now missing after it was passed on to two other officials.

The coin was handed to a government official at the inauguration of the National Gallery of Australia's major exhibition on 2nd December. Dr Roberts, the great granddaughter of Roberts, handed over to Mr. Parncutt, a former president of the National Gallery of Victoria's council of trustees, the artefact, enclosed in an envelope addressed to Malcolm Turnbull.

He passed it to Michael Napthali, the adviser on arts, communications and intellectual property, to the Prime Minister. Today there is no clue as to where the artefact is.

The coin was minted in 1873 with an inscription ‘T’ along with a handwritten note saying "1st artist money TR”. It was handed down through Robert’s family members who were artists or who studied to be artists as a memento for encouragement for generations.