The 1951 Festival of Britain Crown

[tonyclayton]

I remember seeing these being minted at the Festival of Britain site back in 1951.  Sadly coins minted there cannot be distinguished from those minted at the Royal Mint, then on Tower Hill.

These coins were only minted in Proof condition, but sadly it is very difficult to find an unblemished copy; they pick up fingerprints extremely well!  The illustrated copy from my website is almost flawless, and took a lot of hunting.

What are rare are the special proofs: plain edge; incorrect (error) edge; frosted with brilliant field; proof from sandblasted dies to facilitate photography

[BC Numismatics]

Tony,
  I have got one of these in my collection.

I have also got both the 'normal' 1960 Crown,plus an impaired example of the 'Polished Dies' 1960 Crown,which is one extremely difficult coin to find.

Aidan.

[tonyclayton]

Well, to make Aidan happy, here is the 1960 'normal' crown,
and my almost flawless 'polished die' version.  To avoid the need for Aidan to come back with more information, the polished die version was only sold at the British Exhibition in New York, which is one reason they are paricularly hard to find in the UK.  They also suffer from the dreaded fingermark problem, as they were not sold in special capsules like modern proof coins.

I seem to have found how to add an extra image to one posting...preview first.

[Figleaf]

For as long as I have been going to Britain, I cannot remember ever seeing a crown turn up in circulation. Yet older texts (Pepys is a good example) seem to indicate that they did circulate in the past. Do we have any idea when they were no longer a circulation coin? My most modern crown with wear from circulation is dated 1847.

Peter

[BC Numismatics]

Peter,
  The 1937 Coronation Crown would have been issued for circulation,but they would have been saved by the public as a momento of King George VI's coronation.

The last commonly circulated Crown would have been the 1901 Crown,as the 1902 Crown was issued to mark King Edward VII's coronation,as he succeeded to the throne in 1901.

Aidan.

[africancoins]

The 1935 and 1937 crowns are sometimes seen in circulated grades. The Copper-Nickel crowns are often seen in grades below Uncirculated but their "wear" is generally likely all due to their owners having failed to take good care of them.

thanks Mr Paul Baker

[translateltd]

For as long as I have been going to Britain, I cannot remember ever seeing a crown turn up in circulation. Yet older texts (Pepys is a good example) seem to indicate that they did circulate in the past. Do we have any idea when they were no longer a circulation coin? My most modern crown with wear from circulation is dated 1847.

Peter

I understand that at least some of the 20 million 1965 Churchill crowns were put into circulation, but were probably put aside before they passed through too many hands.  I've mentioned before my favourite cartoon from the times, in which a shopkeeper asks a customer if he'd like his change in Churchill crowns ... PLEASE!!!!

[BC Numismatics]

Tony & Martin,
  Richard Lobel mentions in one of his catalogues that shortly after he emigrated to England from America he had trouble spending a 1965 Churchill Crown as payment for a bus fare in London.

Aidan.

[bruce61813]

That is like the old 'problem' of getting a merchant to accept silver dollars, even in the 1960 when the coins were silver. I acquired a couple when the person in line ahead of me could not get the cashier in a grocers to accept 2 silver dollars for a purchase.

Bruce

[tonyclayton]

When I lived in Canada back in 1962 I got 10 one dollar coins from the bank, and managed to spend most of them without difficulty, although they tended to be put on one side in the till so I doubt that they went further!

At the time the 50 cent pieces were used regularly; on my last visit in the early 1990's I got several from the bank and caused much consternation if the cashiers were young (is this real?) as presumably they had never seen them before.  This was before the one dollar coin came out.

[a3v1]

I understand that at least some of the 20 million 1965 Churchill crowns were put into circulation, but were probably put aside before they passed through too many hands. 

When in London in the early 70's I received a Churchill crown in change in a restaurant in the Queensway area. So even then some of these crowns still circulated.
Regards,
a3v1