How Far Back Can We Go? Sixth Edition! Ended At 1380 Waiting On 1379

What should I post next, my Australian and British Crowns? - Yet again Pepa beats everyone to the post.

Something completely different

This very battered Coronation medal for King Edward VIII





Made out of "White metal" some cheap lightweight stuff, too dark for aluminium so I suspect its spelter or antimony.

The thing was battered when I found and I paid the equivalent of a dime for it.

I like it as it was obviously made for a coronation that never took place (Starting to wonder if it should have been posted in 1936 instead?)

Lets have a nice but stained Aussie Crown





It got stained after I got, as I suspect the previous owner cleaned it with something caustic

Now for some Princetane coin history. To date the Australian's largest coin was the Florin and there was a huge gap between that (2/-) and the 10 bob note the next denomination.

They decided to try a silver crown (5/-) denomination and thus saw a fresh start with a new king and the Depression easing. Some 1 million were minted in 1937. However they were a flop.

First of all at 38mm and 28 grams they were way too large and many Australians who wore fewer clothes given their warmer climate found them pocket killers. Possibly in chilly southern cities like Melbourne and Hobart, they may have been better received.

The coins also wore and stained easily in the hot climate (They were nearly pure silver after all) and no doubt some kids used them as weapons hurting each other or something.

You just have to look at other early Australian coins to see how worn they are. There are heaps of 1910s silver which are merely discs with dates on them (I will show a few later).

In 1938 just 100k were minted and they were quite scarce. After 1938, the coin was scrapped and a 5/- banknote was planned, however WW2 put an end to that.

A short and tragic mistake, of course the coins are highly collectable today and dings and gouges are common, due to harsh minting methods. Many became souvenirs and most are in VF to EF condition like this one.

1937 -- Canada, 1 dollar:

My 1937 British crown:

1937 Walking Liberty half

1937 s Walking Liberty half

1937 Battle of Antietam

1937 United Kingdom circulating coins:


1937 brass threepence - first year of issue: