The 1944 penny was struck at the Melbourne mint and is one of the semi- key dates of the George VI penny series with a relatively low mintage of about 2 million coins. In lower grades its reasonably difficult to acquire but can still be found in dealer's junk boxes. In mint state the date can be quite difficult to acquire although characteristic strong strikes do permit higher mint state grades. In 1944 the Perth mint also struck pennies bearing dot mintmark after the Y of PENNY as below:
The Melbourne mint penny does not display this dot mint mark and while generally scarcer than the 1944 Perth mint penny though in higher mint state grades the Perth mint penny is practically impossible to source.