Unadopted UK Decimal Designs Circa 1966/7

Started by Galapagos, October 25, 2009, 08:51:27 PM

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Galapagos

Here are some scans I made of Royal Mint documents from the National Archives, London. They show sketches of suggested designs for the UK decimal series that was already being planned in the mid 1960s.

This first set shows some rather old-fashioned designs by William McMillan. Confusingly, they include both a "D" and a "P" in the denominations, which presumably stand for decimal pence, and some dates shown were still some way in the future at the time, e.g. 1970.





























Mr. McMillan apparently designed 2 series, the first series was entirely shortlisted while of the second series only 2 designs were chosen.






Galapagos

#1
Next are some designs by Harold Wilson Parker, who designed the wren on the reverse of the pre-decimal farthing. You will see that he is offering it up again here, along with a fish and a dormouse.

Note the "½ pence" on one of the legends. This is ungrammatical and should be "½ penny".


See also UK Royal Animals: Rejected Designs of 1936



























Galapagos

#2
Finally some sketches from Geoffrey Colley, who went on to design the first decimal circulation coins of Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.

His designs show a frog, a swallow, a bee and a turkey. The turkey strikes me as a strange choice, since it is South American in origin.







UK4-G Colley, ½p, 1p and 2p.jpg

andyg

#3
I never did understand why the coins had 'New Pence' up until 1982, 11 years is surely more than long enough for people to get the hang of them.  There is a case for the 5p, 10p and 50p needing something to differentiate them from the sd coinage still in use at the time prior to 1971.

andyg

I've always thought that the UK went decimal in a period of high inflation, the fact that 1 new penny was worth 2.14 old pence somewhat masked the inflation troubles of the time.

Figleaf

I find the idea of the crowned swan highly interesting. It was one of the standards flown for Henri V at Azincourt, but I am not aware of its use after the 100 years war...

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

Galapagos

Swans are still associated with Royalty in the UK. They are the property of the Crown. Only the Royals may eat them.

Though that may be about to change:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1556808/Ministers-eye-Her-Majestys-swans.html

Figleaf

The edible (?) kind of swan is an animal and the kind with the crown around the neck is a heraldic element and hard on the stomach. :) It is common on the arms of some old towns in the North West of the Netherlands, so, in spite of the crown, it is not a royal emblem. The same goes for crowned herring. Heraldry is full of funny animals.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

eurocoin

#8
Some designs by Paul Vincze








augsburger


<k>

Other countries such as Belgium have issued industrial designs. After all, the industrial revolution started in England, and to get rich you have to industrialise.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

augsburger

You do. I was more referring to the way the people were portrayed, looking similar to Communist sculpture which liked to have chiseled jaws and things, often quite literally.

chrisild

Yep, lots of musclemen there. :)  Then again, for the 10p and 50p denominations he apparently provided alternatives. The 2p design reminds me of the German 50 pfennig piece - the German woman plants a little tree, the British woman waters the tree ...

Christian

Figleaf

Glad these designs are shown here. They are an important part of the coin story. It is fun to see also what was rejected.

I think the style is more thirties than socialllist arrt. Compare the "rocking horse" crown, though these designs are somewhat more figurative. You could also see them as forerunners of Botero.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

eurocoin

#14
The well-known illustrator Eric Fraser also submitted a series of designs for the decimal coinage.