Solomon Islands Dollar 1995

[andyg]

I recently acquired a Solomon Islands Dollar 1995 FAO,
what I thought was the Maklauf portrait has the initials "ELF" below,
anyone know who this is?  (apologies if we've had this discussion before )

[eurocoin]

Hmm. Schön's book mentions nothing about it. I see that on the 20 cent Solomon Islands 1995 FAO there is this ELF too. His book seems to indicate the pieces were made at the Italian mint.

[africancoins]

It really might be this E.L.F. person then...

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Lorenzo_Frapiccini

Ettore Lorenzo Frapiccini

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[andyg]

That fits...
These didn't appear on the market for several years after the issue date - so they have always been an odd issue all-round.

[eurocoin]

It indeed appears to be the correct answer, very good! Somewhat strange that he replaced RDM's initials with those of himself. But it is not the first time an artist puts his initials under the portrait of another (Wenckebach - Brindley on the Netherlands Antilles collectors coins).

[africancoins]

Would you think that E.L.F. did his own close copy of the RDM portrait ?

It seems that way to me.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[eurocoin]

Would you think that E.L.F. did his own close copy of the RDM portrait ?
It seems that way to me.

Yes, I think you are right.

[andyg]

Some of the later portraits used on Solomon Island coins look odd to me too, but they all seem to have the usual RDM initials.

[Mister T]

That fits...
These didn't appear on the market for several years after the issue date - so they have always been an odd issue all-round.

When did they appear?

[andyg]

Somewhere around 2005 if I remember correctly,
It's probably possible to work out when if you have a collection of Krause books 

[africancoins]

I could look in a heap of books. Although one clue for finding when these were first listed (without a heap of books) would be to see the "dates" of the other types with neighbouring KM numbers for the same country.

From memory, Andy's "somewhere around 2005" suggestion sounded at least about right.

I guessed I would have some messages to help with this.

I found that in September 2004 I had told a keen FAO collector in Italy that I had seen the Solomon Islands 1995 20 Cents FAO coin on Ebay (a current lot).

I had not remembered from before that his response to that information was that that he was aware of this coin and had purchased a few pieces in the 1996 from the FAO Numismatic Office in Rome. At that time he also told me of the similar 1 Dollar in silver.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[Mister T]

Interesting - I guess they weren't marketed very well (as I assume they were struck in 1995 or thereabouts).

[Big_M]

While the history of 20 cents appears to be difficult to trace back, 1 dollar certainly comes from 1995 or only slightly later date . It was included in the official silver coin collection for FAO 50th anniversary 1945-1995.
I do not find any evidence of 20c having been included in any similar base metal sets.

[Mister T]

So it sounds like the FAO headquarters in Rome was selling them at least - has anyone ever seen the 20c or $1 in any sort of packing?

[<k>]

This FAO-themed dollar of 1995 has a non-standard portrait of the Queen.

I could not read the initials, so I asked forum member eurocoin about them:

The initials ELF on the coin are of the Italian artist Ettoro Lorenzo Frapiccini.

I do not know whether they are really meant as designers initials or whether they just denote that he was the engraver.

In any case, the portrait is extremely similar to the Raphael Maklouf portrait.