Churchill

[mrbrklyn]

A great Brookynite - if ever there was one

[<k>]

His mother was American, as was his wife.

[chrisild]

His mother was American, as was his wife.

Maybe adding a portrait of his mother to the coin design would have made the Churchill Crown more popular.

Christian

[mrbrklyn]

I think it is one of the truly great coins ever produced.  This is no silly portrait, but a sincere character study rich in mood.

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/biography/genealogy/sir-winston-and-his-mother

http://nycmuseumgroup.blogspot.com/2009/04/cobble-hill-jennie-jerome-house.html

[translateltd]

Agreed totally - it's a coin that people either love or hate, with few in the middle ground.  I think it's outstanding, but it's probably a pity that nearly 20 million were made, as they caused a glut on the market and the object of jokes accordingly.

[chrisild]

Churchill's portrait on that coin I like too; have never really understood why so many don't.   Then again, maybe it was not "heroic" enough for some. Others may not have appreciated that "suddenly" a non-royal person was depicted on a British coin, or they would have liked to see a face value, don't know.

What I find somewhat poor is the "fat" non-serif font on the reverse. (And that is also why I have mixed feelings regarding the overall design.) Why did they not use a font like that on the obverse, maybe with "Sir Winston" and/or his birth and death years added?

Christian

[translateltd]

What I find somewhat poor is the "fat" non-serif font on the reverse. (And that is also why I have mixed feelings regarding the overall design.) Why did they not use a font like that on the obverse, maybe with "Sir Winston" and/or his birth and death years added?

My take is that - at the time, at least - the one word was all that needed to be said.

[mrbrklyn]

My take is that - at the time, at least - the one word was all that needed to be said.

I like it as it is.  Churchill is like "The Babe", or "Picaso"  The font, also,  dates to the time period when such a font design was very popular in pop culture (see Peter Max).  It represents boldness, not meticousness, or clarity.  Nor is it a reference to the past, but emphasises Churchill's vision and influence on the future, a giant that mankind can stand on the shoulders of.  I think it is one of the truly great designs, and if the US ever created such a fabulous design, the collectors market would go gaga over it.

Perhaps when it was released, it was too close to his active career, with boiled over politics still fresh in peoples minds. 

[translateltd]

Or as I mentioned earlier, there were just too many of them.  There are several threads on the subject of this coin:

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,2003.0.html

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,4057.msg23900.html#msg23900

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,12529.msg86499.html#msg86499

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,6762.msg43780.html#msg43780

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,3655.msg20889.html#msg20889

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,4383.msg26465.html#msg26465

[mrbrklyn]

Excellent, but this one is the best.

[tonyclayton]

There are two varieties, differing in the shape of the R. Both are common.