Uruguay 5 Centesimos - Royal Mint Trial Piece

[bhx7]

Hi Guys

I got this in a batch of tokens I bought recently. I have found a few examples online, although none have the the "MBL" above the 5 on reverse. Also, this one is quite weakly struck

Specs
Mat: Clad Steel
Dia: 23.4mm
Thk: 1mm
Wt: 3.2g
Edge: reeded

Any information on this would be truly appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

[eurocoin]

Nice piece. The other pieces that you found online  depict the abbreviation I.M.I. K.N.B. which means Imperial Metal Industries King's Norton Birmingham. This one was apparently made by Mint Birmingham Limited. For quite a few years, The Royal Mint used to subcontract orders to King's Norton Mint and Birmingham Mint. Apparently in this case both mints were instructed to manufacture trial pieces.

[malawi]

The face on the coin looks like "Milton Margai" ex president of Sierra Leone

[africancoins]

There is some resemblance to Sir Milton Margai.

Note how the central parts of the each side of the coin shown above are rather weak. This may have been due in part to the piece being in a material that was perhaps seldom used by these mint at the time.

On the examples with I.M.I. K.N.B. (as mentioned by Eurocoin and not to difficult to find images of with help from a normal sort of search engine) the design is much better struck. Furthermore, on those pieces, a rather large moustache can be clearly seen in the portrait. That feature is not to be seen on the portrait on the 1964 series coinage of Sierra Leone. The two portraits under consideration also differ in terms of the overall type, look etc.. of the hair on the heads. This could possibly rule out the Sir Milton Margai / Sierra Leone connection that is sometimes mentioned by sellers (and likely some reference books - cannot quite remember) for these particular trial coin types.

I had looked this all up a bit about 2 weeks ago when the group was awaiting bids on Ebay.

Any comments ?

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[bhx7]

There is some resemblance to Sir Milton Margai.

Note how the central parts of the each side of the coin shown above are rather weak. This may have been due in part to the piece being in a material that was perhaps seldom used by these mint at the time.

On the examples with I.M.I. K.N.B. (as mentioned by Eurocoin and not to difficult to find images of with help from a normal sort of search engine) the design is much better struck. Furthermore, on those pieces, a rather large moustache can be clearly seen in the portrait. That feature is not to be seen on the portrait on the 1964 series coinage of Sierra Leone. The two portraits under consideration also differ in terms of the overall type, look etc.. of the hair on the heads. This could possibly rule out the Sir Milton Margai / Sierra Leone connection that is sometimes mentioned by sellers (and likely some reference books - cannot quite remember) for these particular trial coin types.

I had looked this all up a bit about 2 weeks ago when the group was awaiting bids on Ebay.

Any comments ?

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

Was sitting watching myself and placed a watch on the lot instantly. It was a nice batch and the Royal Mint Trial token was definitely the one which peaked my interest. Have just had another few lots arrive with some nice new addition's, including a 5 Cents Euro Training Token.

As for the trial piece above, the portrait is the same as the the 1964 Sierra Leone 1 Cent coin produced by the Birmingham Mint. No large mustache. 

[africancoins]

Well you must be able to see the details on your piece better than we can see them in the image in this topic.

How does the hair on his head compare between your piece and that on the Sierra Leone 20 Cents 1964 coin ? Link to Numista relevant image:-

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/photos/sierra_leone/5f57f876653932.61326539-original.jpg

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[bhx7]

Hi Paul

Not at all. I was going off the image in The Birmingham Mint book.
The hair is made of lines on my piece. So maybe looking at a black & white image isn't good.
As I said, it is very weakly struck.

Brian