Comparing coins from the whole British sterling area

[<k>]

In addition to the UK, the dependencies and territories that fall within the British sterling (pound / GBP) area are:

1] The Crown Dependencies:

a] The Isle of Man

b] Jersey

c] Guernsey and its autonomous dependency Alderney

These are found on the British Crown Dependencies sub-board.


2] The Overseas Territories:

a] Gibraltar

b] St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha, which are usually grouped together - found on the West Africa sub-board.

c] The Falkland Islands

d] South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

e] British Antarctic Territory

f] British Indian Ocean Territory

Territories c], d], e] and f] are found on the British outposts sub-board.

Of these, only the individual crown dependencies (but not Alderney), Gibraltar, St.Helena and Ascension (issuing a joint coinage), and the Falkland Islands issue their own circulation coinage.

The other territories issue collector coins only.

See also: Index of topics about "Other Sterling Area Territories".

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[<k>]

In this topic, I invite members to discuss and compare sterling area coins from different geographical areas. Normally such coins would also be found in different geographical boards on the forum, so they cannot usually be discussed within a single geographical board.

[<k>]

I notice that the Pobjoy Mint and the Tower Mint now both produce collector issues for the sterling area territories of the Southern Hemisphere. Does any territory currently issue collector coins from both mints?

Do both mints issue these recent 50 pence coins in colour, or only one of them? And which mint produced the Tristan da Cunha 50 pence that commemorates Alan Turing?

[eurocoin]

I notice that the Pobjoy Mint and the Tower Mint now both produce collector issues for the sterling area territories of the Southern Hemisphere. Does any territory currently issue collector coins from both mints?

Gibraltar

Do both mints issue these recent 50 pence coins in colour, or only one of them?

Both

And which mint produced the Tristan da Cunha 50 pence that commemorates Alan Turing?

The Commonwealth Mint.

[<k>]

Thank you, eurocoin.

[<k>]

The UK 12-sided bimetallic pound coin was issued into circulation on 28 March 2017. Many of the new coins were dated 2016.




British Antarctic Territory issued a collector-only 12-sided bimetallic pound coin in November 2020.




The Falkland Islands plans to issue a 12-sided bimetallic pound coin in 2021.

NOTE: The image above was produced prematurely and should have shown the year as 2021, not 2020.

See: Falkland Islands to introduce new 1 pound coin

I will post images of other 12-sided bimetallic pound coins from other UK territories / dependencies in this topic when they are issued.

[<k>]

Coloured 50 pence collector coins with popular themes.




The Falkland Islands produced a penguin series back in 2017.




Gibraltar produced a monkey series in 2018.




BIOT produced a turtle series in 2018.




BAT produced a Boaty McBoatface issue in 2018.




South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands produced a 50 pence with a plastic appliqué in 2020.

Later in the year it followed this with a series of penguins.




Ascension Island produced a 'The Wind in the Willows' issue in 2021.




Tristan da Cunha produced an Alan Turing issue in 2021.

What should I include for the Isle of Man and the UK?

Jersey and Guernsey so far have nothing with similar pictorial themes.

Interesting that the coins sport three different portraits of the Queen. Who can match them to their mints for me?

BAT, the Falklands and SGSSI have all produced penguin series.

[<k>]

Saint Helena has yet to issue a coloured 50 pence with a popular theme. Can we expect one soon? And maybe even a joint one from St. Helena-Ascension?

And what about Alderney? It did issue a set of four normal 50 pence collector coins in 2003 to commemorate the Queen's coronation jubilee but has not issued any since.

Jersey and Guernsey's coloured Liberation 50 pence collector coins of 2020, with traditional floral arrangement, surely hardly count here, since they did not include a popular figurative theme.

[<k>]

So who issued the first coloured 50 pence collector coin?

My guess is the Isle of Man, with their Snowman 50 pence of 2003.

[<k>]

Thinking of 50 pence collector coins, it is notable that several of these dependencies / territories first issued them as crown-sized coins. In my active collecting days, I quickly came to regard crowns and crown-sized coins as too big and bulky and did not like them. Did this likewise deter other collectors? Would these early issues have been more salable if they had been of the standard heptagonal shape?

So which of the dependencies / territories issued crown-sized 50 pence collector coins? Who can name them? Who can also name (for each) the first year in which they issued them? If you can do so, I will illustrate the relevant coins.

Also, which of the dependencies / territories issued collector coins named 'crowns' ? The concept of crowns in that context seems very old-fashioned to me now.

[<k>]

Here is my analysis of the collector coins (copper-nickel and silver only) of the territories and dependencies of the sterling area.

It is notable that so many of these issues, whatever their denominations, were crown-sized, i.e. roughly 38 mm in diameter. In retrospect, that seems very unimaginative.

Furthermore, the same territory or dependency sometimes issued collector coins denominated as 25 pence and sometimes as a crown. Originally a crown also had a value of 25 pence.


The Isle of Man and Gibraltar did not restrict themselves to these collector coin types, of course, and issued other denominations and sizes: the royal, for instance. What is the face value of a royal?


Commemorative or one-off heptagonal 50 pence coins tended to be issued much later than the crown-sized pieces.


What are your feelings about crown-sized coins? Did you like the bulky coins or regard them as old-fashioned after a certain point?

NOTE: WFF should read WWF on the image below.  The year shows the year these were first issued.

[eurocoin]

Some Royal coins of Gibraltar are equal to 25 pence while others are equal to 5 pounds.

[<k>]

Thank you, eurocoin. So some are no different from a crown. The question is, why did they bother to issue them?

[<k>]

How many of these places issue these horrible gold-plated copper / gold-plated steel pieces?

They are crown-sized.

Does anybody here collect them? Are they expensive?

I start with Guernsey (start year 2011) and will return to add others.

[<k>]

The textual information contained in the legends on these sterling area coins is often subject to quite some variation in its content and layout.

But on the coins above we see an unnamed woman. This is not good. How are the world's citizens expected to learn her identity?





Fortunately, the answer to the mystery is revealed on these cousin coins.

Will the coins of the sister territories perhaps one day also include the lady's name?