The Theme Is London

One of the tourist attractions in the London area os the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the foundation, The Royal Mint in 2009 issued a circulating commemorative 50p coin - with a circulation of just 10,000 - I have verified this figure with them.

2009 50p Kew Gardens 250 years.

The reverse shows the Pagoda at Kew Gardens.







A few more to follow!

Bill.

From the "First British Empire", the breakaway Roman province ruled by Carausius: a billon antoninianus, made from an alloy with so little silver it may as well be called "bronze". Reverse: PAX AVG, though the combination of bad die-work and corrosion has made Lady Peace look like a refugee from the X-Files. Mintmark ML: Moneta Londinium.

Great, others are entering into the spirit of things. Here come a couple more from my collection.

Correctly referred to as "A Portcullis with Chains Royally Crowned", this is an adaption of the Badge of King Henry VII. It is used as a symbol of Parliament.

Here is a (decimal, £1 = 100p) 1 penny of 2008, the last year in which this design was used. From decimalisation in 1971 until 1991 the wording was NEW PENNY, but from 1982 it was changed to ONE PENNY.







Another in a couple of minutes.

Bill.

EDIT: Change to wording ONE PENNY corrected 1992 1982.

"Pattern", as the common definition of the word implies, is usually applied to a new or proposed design not yet approved for general issue. The term for a "coin" struck for collectors by an official government mint using old designs or dies is "restrike". While this term isn't technically correct either since there were no "genuine" 1970 predec coins, it is closer to how these coins actually came to be.

Anyways, more London pieces. Here is a London-minted penny attributed to the reign of John, Class 5c if my reading of Spink and Coincraft are correct. Reverse legend: ADAM ON LVNDE.


Next up, the only London token I have that's in a scannable condition - the other two I own are corroded wrecks. Francis Shackleton, chandler in Suffolk St, Haymarket.


London coins made in modern times almost never have mintmarks - it's the regional and colonial mints that had mintmarks, un-marked coins could be assumed to be London-made. There was one exception, in the Australian series, when London struck coins for us in 1951. The tiny little "PL" mintmark above the date on this sixpence hearkens back to the "pecunia Londinium" or PLON mintmarks seen on many London-made Roman coins, such as bilnic's Constantine II coin posted above.


Here's a recent acquisition of mine, a 1 penny token from the "East London Municipality". I spotted it in a dealer's trays and thought, "I don't have any tokens from London in the late 1800s.". Then I remembered that such tokens were illegal in Britain in 1880. I finally figured out that this token wasn't from the East End, it was from East London, the city of that name in South Africa.


Finally, while we're in the colonies, I have to show a tourist dollar from the city of my birth: London, Ontario, Canada.

Wow- some nice coin scans here. I need to get my scanner going an join in !

1797 "Conder" penny from the London and Westminster series.

Now, this one is a challenge for you, but please, if you know the answer, please don't reply immediately as it would be good to see a few guesses first.

It's an everyday sixpence, it happens to be 1936 but the year and design don't matter. What matters is that it's a sixpence (between 1816 and 1967).

What is the London connection with this ordinary sixpence?






Bill.

EDIT: "between 1816 and 1967" added.
Bill.