Since 1958, the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II has featured on the obverse of British coins. And now, for the first time in 70 years, a new portrait of King Charles III is entering circulation. But did you know that there’s another British icon who has featured on coins for far longer? In fact, she […]
“My coin has an error. One of the sides is upside down!” If you’ve had that thought when looking at certain coins, don’t worry you’re not alone. The “upside down coin” question is one of the most common we’re asked. In almost all cases, it’s never a mistake, but the alignment style decided by the […]
In 1887 for her Golden Jubilee, Queen Victoria authorised a new portrait for circulating coinage, as well as a new denomination. This saw the introduction of the Double Florin, which later led to the loss of Barmaid’s jobs and only circulated for 3 years. Featuring a brand-new portrait of the Queen that became colloquially known […]
The late 1930s was a tumultuous time for the Royal Family. Edward VIII announced his abdication on 11 December 1936 to the shock of the world and the outrage of the Royal Family. Edward’s successor – his brother and our Queen’s father, George VI was furious at the abdication and made it his mission to […]
I want to take you back 150 years ago today and on a hop across the pond to what is now Canada. But Canada wasn’t Canada until 1967 and there were no Canadian coins until 1870. When the UK transferred most of its remaining land in North America to Canada in the summer of 1870, […]
Royal Jubilees are big business. Whether it’s with street parties or commemorative coins, the nation (and beyond) always marks them in quite some style. Thanks to Her Majesty’s record-breaking reign, we have been treated to a larger number of Jubilees than one might expect, with each one more remarkable than the last. Her next Jubilee […]
We’ve all spent a lot of time looking at our walls during the Coronavirus lockdowns, but probably never considered that there could be a fortune hiding in them… Maybe we should have though as a collection of gold coins dug out of the walls of a remote French mansion just fetched almost £900,000 at auction. […]
“In God We Trust” is the official motto of the United States. It first appeared on an American coin in 1864 and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a law in 1955 that required “In God We Trust” to appear on all American currency. But some groups in the US are objecting to its use, suggesting it […]
Have you heard about the “Jubilee Plot”? It was a supposed plan to assassinate Queen Victoria during her Golden Jubilee celebration at Westminster Abbey on 20 June 1887. The perpetrators were allegedly radical Irish nationalists, but all was not what it seemed… 19th century “Black Ops”? It was reported in various newspapers at the time […]
The 1933 Double Eagle was all set to be America’s last gold coin struck for circulation, but it was never issued because President Franklin Roosevelt took the United States off the gold standard. 445,500 were actually minted in 1933, but none were ever officially circulated, and all but two of them were meant to have […]