Seychelles: unadopted designs of 1972

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Norman Sillman.

Norman Sillman was born in 1921 and died aged 92 in 2013. He was an English artist and sculptor, who also produced many coin designs for the Royal Mint. His first coin design was for the Bermuda crown of 1959, which commemorated the territory's 350th anniversary. Over the years he designed circulation coin sets for Zambia and Kenya, along with many collector coins for various nations. He designed the reverse of the UK's first collector 2 pound coin of 1986, which celebrated Edinburgh's hosting of the Commonwealth Games, and the UK round pound reverse designs of 1994 to 1997, which included a splendid Welsh dragon.

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In early 1971 the Royal Mint commissioned Mr. Sillman to design a set of coins for the Seychelles. The minutes for the Royal Mint Advisory Committee's meeting of 1st March 1971 read as follows:

The Seychelles propose to introduce new 5 cent and 1 cent coins in aluminium, and also a 5 rupee coin in cupro-nickel. They have asked that the reverse of the 5 cent coin should feature either tomatoes or a cabbage, the 1 cent the head of a zebu bull, and the 5 rupee either:

the coco-de-mer (the palm LADOICEA MALDIVICA), or the Badge of the Seychelles, or a design showing the elements of the Badge of the Seychelles viz., the coco-de-mer, a typical Seychelles schooner and the giant tortoise (TESTUDO GIGANTEA). The obverses will all bear the Queen's effigy.

The Deputy Master would be grateful for the Committee's comments on sketches for the reverses which have been prepared by Mr. Norman Sillman.

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Three tomatoes.




Five tomatoes.




Cabbage.

Norman Sillman's suggested designs for the 5 cents coin.

Images © Royal Mint Museum (UK).

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Zebu.

Norman Sillman's suggested designs for the 1 cent coin.

Image © Royal Mint Museum (UK).

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Coco-de-mer tree.




Badge of the Seychelles.




Scene adapted from the badge of the Seychelles.

Norman Sillman's suggested designs for the 5 rupees coin.

Images © Royal Mint Museum (UK).

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The Committee Minutes for late March 1971 reveal the following:

The designs circulated by post earlier this month were generally not liked. Among three designs submitted for the 5 Rupees most members preferred the one featuring the coco-de-mer, but the position of the numeral on this design was considered wholly unsatisfactory. Of the three designs submitted for the 5 cents, the one featuring the cabbage was thought acceptable, again except for the positioning of the numeral. A similar view was taken of the zebu bull design submitted for the 1 cent. The Seychelles Authorities are being asked to reconsider the need for numerals on these coins.

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Coco-de-mer without numeral.




Cabbage without numeral.




Shorthorn.

Norman Sillman's revised designs.

Images © Royal Mint Museum (UK).

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From the Committee Minutes of June 1971.

Revised designs by Mr. Norman Sillman for the reverses of these three proposed new coins were considered. The designs had been revised in the light of comments offered by members when earlier versions had been circulated by post. At the request of the Seychelles Government the design for the 1 cent had also been altered to portray a Shorthorn bull in place of a Zebu bull.

All the designs were considered acceptable, though the President regretted the substitution of the less interesting Shorthorn for the Zebu bull. He also showed the Committee an example of the Coco-de--mer nut which was featured in one of the other designs, and reaffirmed his doubts about the accuracy of Mr. Sillman's sketches, which seemed to show the nuts to be pointed.

The Secretary said that he thought the explanation was that Mr. Sillman's designs were intended to show the nuts still within their outer husks. Mr. Sillman would be asked to visit Kew Gardens to check this point before proceeding with his model. At the model stage he would also be asked, as suggested by some members of the Committee, to increase the space between the bottom of the nuts and the inscription.

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The Seychelles authorities accepted the Committee's proposal to omit the numerals from the 1 cent and 5 cents coins. The 1 cent and 5 cents coins were issued as part of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation programme for coins and carried the slogan, "GROW MORE FOOD". The 1 cent coin was issued in 1972 only, while the 5 cents coin was issued from 1972 to 1975. The 5 cents design was replaced by a different one when the Seychelles became independent in 1976. The heptagonal 5 rupees coin had the same dimensions as the large UK 50 pence of that period. Its exotic reverse design remains one of the most beautiful ever to grace an equilateral curve heptagon, and it provided an early example of just what a superb vehicle the heptagon was for stylish thematic designs.

I corresponded briefly with Norman Sillman in 2010, by which time he was already long retired. He recounted how he would occasionally visit London Zoo to study the animals and ensure that his wildlife coin designs were anatomically correct. I have checked the shape of the queried coconut husks on his preliminary Seychelles designs, and it is indeed correct, though only at an early stage in their ripening. However, after that design was replaced by a more general tropical scene, the question became irrelevant. Mr. Sillman's issued 5 rupees design turned out to be more scenic than badge-like, but his preliminary and final versions of this design were of equal quality and clearly showed his precision and his artistry.

References:

The National Archives (TNA), Royal Mint documents:

MINT 25/2/Z: "    RMAC 165th Meeting 3 June 1971"

This information is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3).

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The issued 1 cent and 5 cents coins of 1972.

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The issued 5 rupees coin of 1972.

[krishna]

Looks very similar to the UK 50p coin i suppose...

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Yes. It was the same size, shape and weight. Both coins were made by the Royal Mint (UK).

Heptagons became quite popular in the 1970s.