Milestones in the decimal coinage of the Falkland Islands

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This topic is part of a series about the decimal coins of the sterling area. To see the other topics in the series, click on the link below:

The Decimal Coins of the Sterling Area 


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Map of South America, including the Falkland Islands.

From Wikipedia:

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about 300 miles (483 kilometres) east of South America's southern Patagonian coast, and about 752 miles (1210 kilometres) from the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at a latitude of about 52°S. The archipelago, with an area of 4,700 square miles (12,000 square kilometres), comprises East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 smaller islands.

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Map of the Falkland Islands.

From Wikipedia:

The Falkland Islands take their name from the Falkland Sound, a strait separating the archipelago's two main islands. The name "Falkland" was applied to the channel by John Strong, captain of an English expedition which landed on the islands in 1690. Strong named the strait in honour of Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland, the Treasurer of the Navy who sponsored their journey. The Viscount's title originates from the town of Falkland, Scotland, whose name comes from "folkland" (land held by folk-right). The name was not applied to the islands until 1765, when British captain John Byron of the Royal Navy, claimed them for King George III as "Falkland's Islands". The term "Falklands" is a standard abbreviation used to refer to the islands.

Controversy exists over the Falklands' discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans. At various times, the islands have had French, British, Spanish and Argentine settlements. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, but Argentina maintains its claim to the islands. In April 1982, Argentine military forces invaded the islands. British administration was restored two months later at the end of the Falklands War. Almost all Falklanders favour the archipelago remaining a UK overseas territory. Its sovereignty status is part of an ongoing dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom.

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Port Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands.

From Wikipedia:

As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, and the United Kingdom takes responsibility for their defence and foreign affairs. The Falkland Islands' capital is Stanley on East Falkland.

The population (2,932 inhabitants in 2012) primarily consists of native-born Falkland Islanders, the majority of British descent. Other ethnicities include French, Gibraltarian and Scandinavian. Immigration from the United Kingdom, the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, and Chile has reversed a population decline. The predominant (and official) language is English. Under the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983, Falkland Islanders are British citizens.

Major economic activities include fishing, tourism and sheep farming, with an emphasis on high-quality wool exports. Oil exploration, licensed by the Falkland Islands Government, remains controversial as a result of maritime disputes with Argentina.

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Coat of arms of the Falkland Islands.

From Wikipedia:

The coat of arms of the Falkland Islands was granted to the Falkland Islands on 29 September 1948. It consists of a shield containing a sheep on tussock grass in the field with a sailing ship underneath and the motto of the Falklands ('Desire the Right') below.

Desire the Right is the motto of the Falkland Islands. It makes reference to The Desire, the vessel from which English sea-captain John Davis sighted the Falkland Islands in 1592.

The ship represents the Desire, the vessel in which the English sea-captain John Davis is reputed to have discovered the Falkland Islands in 1592; the motto, Desire the Right, also refers to the ship's name. The ram represents sheep farming, which until recently was the principal economic activity of the islands, and the tussock grass shows the most notable native vegetation.

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Flag of the Falkland Islands.

From Wikipedia:

The current flag of the Falkland Islands was adopted on 25 January 1999 and consists of a defaced Blue Ensign, with the Union Flag in the canton and the Falkland Islands coat-of-arms in the fly.

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The Falkland Islands previously used British homeland coinage, but in 1974 it introduced its own circulation coinage. The coinage of the UK is also legal tender on the islands.

The territory has its own currency, the Falkland pound. It is a separate currency from the UK pound sterling, but it is pegged to the UK pound at a rate of one to one.

The Falkland pound is created by the Falkland currency board and is fully backed, 100%, by reserves of the UK pound sterling, its anchor currency. For a fuller explanation of currency boards, read this topic: There are only four basic currency systems in the world

The territory's coins are minted to the same specifications of size, shape, colour and weight as their UK counterparts. The UK had already adopted the decimal system in 1971, and its coins included the legend "NEW PENCE", but it removed any reference to "NEW" pence from its coinage in 1982. The Falkland coins were first issued in 1974, but they omitted any reference to "NEW" in their legends by using only numerals to represent the denominations, without "PENCE", "p", or anything else.

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Obverse of the penny, 1974.

The obverse of the coins carried the Arnold Machin effigy of Queen Elizabeth II. The legend states simply: 'QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND'.

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The reverse designs, portraying the local wildlife, were created by Royal Mint engraver William Gardner, and his initials can be seen on the reverse. Curiously, the set issued in 1974 did not include a fifty pence coin, although the set matched all the other denominations of the UK coinage.

NOTE: The coins in the images below do not all carry a date of 1974, but the designs have not changed since they were issued.

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½ penny.  Brown trout.  Salmo trutta.

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1 penny.   Gentoo penguins.  Pygoscelis papua.

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2 pence.   Upland goose.  Chloephaga picta.

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5 pence.  Black-browed albatross.  Thalassarche melanophris.

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10 pence.  Sea lions: cow and bull.  Otaria flavescens.

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50 pence.  Falkland Islands wolf. Dusicyon australis.

The Falkland Islands did not issue a circulation 50 pence coin until 1980, since a Falkland 50 pence note had been in circulation prior to that. The reverse design of the 50 pence coin portrayed a Falkland fox, an animal which had become extinct on the islands in the 1800s.

This reverse design was the work of Robert Elderton and therefore, unlike the other designs, it does not carry the initials of William Gardner.


From Wikipedia:

The Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis), also known as the warrah and occasionally as the Falkland Islands dog, Falkland Islands fox, or Antarctic wolf, was the only native land mammal of the Falkland Islands. This endemic canid became extinct in 1876, the first known canid to have become extinct in historical times. It was the only modern species in the genus Dusicyon.

Traditionally it had been supposed that the most closely related genus was Lycalopex, including the culpeo, which has been introduced to the Falkland Islands in modern times. However, in 2009, a cladistic analysis of DNA identified the Falkland Island wolf's closest living relative as the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus)—an unusually long-legged, fox-like South American canid, from which it separated about 6.7 million years ago.