30 MAY 1891, Page 3

The Chancellor of the Exchequer mentioned on Monday that eight

artists had been invited to send in designs for the new coinage, and that the Mint Committee would report upon them all. That is probably the best course, and as Sir E. Boehm is no longer among us, it is possible that the best design will be accepted. The one indispensable change is that the Queen's crown should be on her head, and not tumbling off in the present ominous fashion; but we would venture to task whether the reverse of every coin must be a muddle of heraldry which nobody any longer understands. Might not the crown-piece, for instance, carry a ship in full sail, the most characteristic emblem both for the country and for the "heir of the kings of the sea" P The double-florin, we are happy to see, is to be withdrawn. Its original object, which was to supersede all dollars used in Asia, has failed, and at home it is a cumbrous nuisance.