James Berry, Coin Designer

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James Berry was born in London in 1906 but emigrated to New Zealand in 1925, where he eventually found employment as a freelance artist and designer.

 

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In the 1930s, he joined the New Zealand Numismatic Society, who put forward his design for a Waitangi crown, to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. His design was accepted and released in 1935. The design was modelled by Percy Metcalfe.

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It was not until 1947 that another of Mr Berry’s designs was chosen for a coin, and this time it was for the reverse of the Fiji threepence coin, first issued in 1947 and depicting a native hut. By coincidence Percy Metcalfe had designed the first coins of the Fiji series, issued in 1934.

 

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In 1949, King George VI had been due to make a visit to New Zealand, but he fell ill and the trip was cancelled. Mr Berry’s crown commemorative, however, was not. It depicted a simple fern leaf, with the stars of the Southern Cross.

 

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1c.    Fern leaf.
2c.    Kowhai flowers.
5c.    Tuatara.
10c.  Maori totem: Koruru.
20c.  Kiwi.
50c.  HMS Endeavour.


Mr Berry had in the meantime become very successful in designing postage stamps for New Zealand, Australia, Western Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Niue, Bermuda and South Africa. His numismatic stock rose considerably when his designs were chosen for New Zealand’s decimal coinage of 1967. His designs are shown in the image above.

 

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1c.   Taro leaf.
2c.   Pineapples.
5c.   Hibiscus.
10c.  Oranges and leaf cluster.
20c.  Fairylake swallow.
50c.  Bonito fish.
$1.   Tangaroa, Polynesian God of Creation.


As a result of his new numismatic fame, Mr Berry was chosen to design the circulation coins of the Cook Islands, which were released in 1972.

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The fairylake swallow design was replaced by Pacific triton seashells between 1976 and 1981.

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The Cook Islands dollar coin was intended to portray Tangaroa, the Cook Islanders’ god of creation. Tangaroa is both male and female and is usually portrayed clutching a pregnant belly and sporting a large male organ. Mr Berry’s prototype design omitted the aforementioned organ, much to the annoyance of the proud Cook Islanders, who ordered him to restore their god’s manhood.

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Cook Islands, 5 dollars, 1979.  Rarotongan fruit dove by James Berry.

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1   sene.  Coconut.
2   sene.  Cocoa pods.
5   sene.  Pineapple.
10 sene.  Taro leaves.
20 sene.  Breadfruit.
50 sene.  Banana tree.
1   tala.    Coconut palm.

In 1974 Western Samoa issued a new series of circulating coin designs, which were provided by Mr Berry in much the same style as he had used for the Cook Islands’ designs. The obverse portrait was Humphrey Paget.

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James Berry's design for Western Samoa, in celebration of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

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He also created a portrait of Queen Elizabeth that appeared on a New Zealand dollar of 1979.

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Throughout his life, Mr Berry had an abiding interest in Captain James Cook and his ship the Endeavour, and he portrayed the subject many times on stamps, medals and coins. Here you see the theme as he treated it on a New Zealand dollar of 1969.

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Western Samoa, 1 dollar, 1970.  Another of James Berry's designs of Captain Cook.

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Western Samoa, 1 dollar, 1979.  Here Captain Cook is portrayed along with the ship HMS Resolution.