19 JULY 1935, Page 43

• The Jubilee Crown Piece • THE decision to issue a

special crown piece to celebrate the King's Silver Jubilee is one that has fired the public imagination, and the demand for the new coin has exceeded all anticipation. To strike special coins in years of national rejoicing is to follow precedent for, in the past; years of Corona- tion or Jubilee have been so commemorated. ,The type of money issued has varied considerably. Some- times golden 15 and £2 pieces have been struck, while Queen .Victoria's Golden •Jubilee was the occasion of the issue of net only these large golden pieces but, addition, of a new complete set of silver coins. , This year, however, it was decided to strike only one special Jubilee coin—a crown piece. The choice of the drown was a happy one. The size and dignity of the coin render it suitable for commemorative, design ; • further, tie silver crown is one of our oldest coins, and it seems Ippropriate to celebrate a Silver, Jubilee with a silver coin.

The design of the new coin has had a favourable re- ception. The " head " bears Sir Bertram Mackennal's bust of His Majesty which, with 'very ' minor variations, has been UdIfor All 'Coins of the present reign. The reverse (as the " tail " is officially termed) once again bears a figure of St. George and the Dragon. The design is by Mr., Percy Metcalfe, and the • treatment of the subject is in very modern style. St. George and the Dragon havelong been favourites On our coins. They appeared on the noble struck in the reign of Henry VIII, while the design of the saine subject by Pistiticei; so com'mon on modern sovereigns and five- shilling pieces, has been in use by various monarchs for over a century. This work by. Pistrucei has always been regarded as one of , the finest coin-designs of modern times. It was first used on a. five-shilling piece in the reign of George III in 1818. George IV Used it with only alight modifications, while the same design' appeared. on the later crowns of Queen Victoria and on the one issue in 1902 Of Edward' VII.

* * It was decided to strike the Jubilee crown in three types—two - of Which were to be " Pattern " pieces intended for collectors, while the third was to be a Current coin of the realm. The requisite Royal Proclama- tion was issued on Saturday, May 4th, immediately before Jubilee Day itself.

•• One "pattern" piece is made of gold and the other of standard silver (that is, of alloy containing 925 parts of silver in every 1,000, as compared with 500 parts of Silver in the alloy now used for our silver coins). • The issue Of these " patterns " was strictly limited in . _ numbers. Only 25 of the gold pattern and 2,500 of the silver were struck. The ordinary currency crown will be issued in unlimited quantities until the end of the present year. In 1936, however, the Royal Mint will revert to Mr. Kruger Gray's design for the crown which has been in use since .1927. The design on the three series of Jubilee crowns is identical, save that the inscription round the edge—" Dceus et Tutamen. Anna Regni XXV "—is in raised letters on the " pattern" pieces and in Meuse lettering on the currency crown. The words " DecuS et Tutamen," which have been translated as " an ornament and a safeguard," were first put round the edges of our coins by Charles II. The reason was to . prevent clipping, but in time the inscription 'came to be generally superseded by milling.

The public demand for the new five-shilling pieces was astonishing. The issue price of the gold piece was £50, and for the 25 specimens available to the public there were no fewer than 1,829 applicants. These were allotted by ballot.

FIVE TONS OF CROWNS.

Of the silver " patterns " 2,500 were for public issue, but when the hard-worked Mint officials returned to their duties on May 7th, the day after the Jubilee Holiday, they found in their post-bag applications for more than • the whole 2,500. A notice was immediately issued to the Press announcing that it would be useless for anyone to make further application, but the number of applicants increased to 7,000. The Mint sold these silver patterns for 7s. 6d., but so great was public interest that the price offered for them in the market has risen to several pounds.

It had been intended that the currency crown should be available at the banks on May 7th, but owing to the huge demand it Was several weeks before all requests were satisfied. In less than a month over 150,000 were issued—about 5 tons of them'. In ordinary times the number of crowns issued per annum is about 4,000.

ERROR IN INSCRIPTION.

A certain amount of discussion has been caused by the date included in the inscription round the edge of the Jubilee crown. This reads " Anno Regni xxy, which, being interpreted, is "In the 25th year of the reign." The 25th year of the reign ended, however, within a few hours of the issue of the requisite Royal Proclamation, sa it would appear that the crowns are all incorrectly dated. A similar inscription occurred on the crowns of Queen Victoria, but the issues of these coins always had the dates of two regnal years for each calendar year, according to the date of striking—whether before or after the anniversary of the Queen's accession.

The issue of an additional five-shilling piece this year does not really increase the number of series of silver coins circulating, as hitherto, owing to the fact that no crown had been issued between 1902 and 1927, when the newly designed silver coinage was introduced, there had been only one design of the Georgian crown in circulation, compared with two designs of the other silver coins. The Jubilee crown, however, now adjusts the numbers.

VICTORIA'S NOTORIOUS JUBILEE COINAGE.

The Jubilee coinage of King George V has certainly, been much more successful than that ill-fated issue which commemorated Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. . One of the reasons for the new designs then introduced was that the portrait of the Queen, until then in use, had been on the coins since Her Majesty ascended the Throne fifty years previously as a girl of eighteen. It was felt that a portrait more true to life was n2eded, and so a new "head," the work of Sir Edgar Boehm, was intro- duced.

The new coins could only be described as comic. The Queen looked cross and austere ; she was smothered with orders and jewellery ; while a silly little crown seemed to be in danger of falling from the back of her head. A four-shilling piece, or double' florin, was introduced as an experiment. This was an entirely new .coin, but it failed to win popularity. The Jubilee sixpence of the same series was so much like a half-sovereign in design that it had to be withdrawn immediately, as forgers promptly gilded it and passed it as gold. • Indeed, the whole Jubilee coinage met with such ridicule and execration that arrangements were soon put in hand for another new series. This appeared in 1893, bearing a new portrait of Queen Victoria by the late Sir Thomas Brock. This coinage was a great improvement, And no further change occurred during the reign.

R. J. MARTIN.