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 Replies: 11 / Views: 3,690 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
709 Posts |
Just over two years ago I posed a question on this website about Falkland Islands proof/brilliant uncirculated coin sets. Since then I have slowly collected them, and believe I now have a complete set. Below are pictures for your enjoyment. There is a huge amount of NCLT out there, especially produced in later years. I have limited myself to sets of coins for general circulation mainly because this is what interests me most, and partly because it would consume a huge budget to acquire the lot. If there are any errors/omissions please let me know. I am always looking to expand my knowledge of this subject and coins in general. There seems to be very little out there on Falkland Islands coins. If you know any good sources please add them to this thread. Images are of sets in my possession. They have been produced using a scanner; apologies if they may not be of the sharpest quality. 1974 **** Front of packaging.  reverses  obverses  This is the first year Falkland Islands coins were released for circulation. Before then UK coins were used. There was no 50p, a note being used instead. Reverse designs were produced based on local wildlife instead of the heraldic designs from the UK. Obverse was the standard Machin portrait. Krause lists mintage figures for the proofs as 23,000. This is a lot considering the population would have been around a tenth of that. Edited by Anaximander
04/08/2019 06:08 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
709 Posts |
1980 ****    The 50p coin was minted for circulation this year, and was included in the proof sets. Krause gives mintages for some of the proofs as 10,000, but does not quote figures for others. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
709 Posts |
1982 *****    Last year the 1/2p was included in a proof set. It was last minted in 1983, as per the UK. ( There were 1984 1/2p coins for the UK but these were only minted for the annual sets ). |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
709 Posts |
1987 *****    First year of the Nickel-Brass £1 coin with the Maklouf portrait. All lower value coins still used the Machin. This contrasts with the UK where the £1 was introduced in 1983 and the Maklouf portrait came in across the board in 1985. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
709 Posts |
1992 ******    In 1990 the UK 5p was reduced from 23.6mm to 18mm, with the 10p going from 28.5mm to 24.5mm in 1992. Both sizes were produced in the changeover year. Not so with the Falklands, where the coins remained the original size. All coins still used the Machin portrait, except the £1 as before. The 1992 set includes a commemorative £2 coin with a unique obverse portrait. No 5p or 10p coins were minted from 1993 to 1997. In 1998 they were produced in the smaller sizes. This created the interesting situation where the larger sizes were still valid in the Falkland Islands, but had been demonetised in the UK. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
709 Posts |
1999 ******   Only two images. This set was produced in an open-fronted card slip case, which is very similar in appearance to the card coin holder inside. This set is the jewel in the crown because it contains what I believe is a unique £2 commemorative coin. It is also significantly more expensive to acquire! The 1p and 2p are now copper-plated steel, ( UK coins changed from bronze in 1992 ), and the 50p is of the reduced size introduced in the UK in 1997. Krause lists Falkland circulation 50p's issued in 1998 in the smaller size. No 50p coins minted 1996-7. Portraits are still Machin for 1p to 50p, Maklouf for £1 and a unique design for the £2. The £2 is huge, being crown-sized at 38.6mm. Krause lists proof mintage for this coin as 2,500. Does this mean the BU set mintage was 2500, or is this separate? |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
709 Posts |
2004 *****   Again only two images - same reason as per 1999. Supposedly the year of introduction for the Ian Rank-Broadley obverse on Falkland Islands coins. ( Introduced 1998 for UK coins ). Krause however lists a 2003 50p with this obverse, and I have read of it independently on the net. I have heard rumours of earlier IRB portraits for some of other coins. If anyone has knowledge please add to this thread. I have seen internet sale listings for 2003 1p and 50p. To the best of my knowledge the 2004 set is currently the latest issued. There has been a 2007 50p commemorating the liberation in 1982, and a 2014 £2 commemorating the Battle of the Falklands in 1914. 2015 saw the introduction of the Jody Clark obverse on UK coins, so presumably the Falkland Islands are due to follow suit. I have the 2019 Krause covering 2001+, and there is no listing. Neither does Krause list standard coin issues for 2011, but I have seen them elsewhere. Looking at the overall trends above, I would have expected a recent set with the JC obverse sometime around now. Again, anyone with knowledge please comment. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17937 Posts |
Very interesting, Anaximander, and thanks for sharing! I have a 1980 Uncirculated Falkland Islands set that I bought in about 1982/3, but I imagine that it's in after-market packaging:  Other than that, I have three of the crown-sized 50p coins (1977, 1981 and 1983) purchased over the years, a 1987 silver piedfort £1 and the following loose coins all either retrieved from circulation in the UK or brought back by a friend who was on a cruise ship that called at Port Stanley: 1p 1974 1983 1985 1987 1998 2p 1974 1980 1983 1985 1987 1992 5p (large) 1974 1983 1985 1987 1992; (small) 1998 10p 1974 1980 1983 £1 1987 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5241 Posts |
@anaximander, you might have the only complete set in the world!
How did you become interested in this "obscure" country?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9395 Posts |
You certainly have a great Falkland Islands collection.
I have a grand total of 2 coins from the Falklands (part of my OFEC subcollection).
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
Very nice collection! I've always had a soft spot for coins of the British territories, but never attempted to collect them.
So these coins actually circulate on the islands, and aren't strictly for collectors? I know that some British territories have coins issued for them, but just use British coins in practice. Seems unusual that the UK would mint for the archipelago that has a smaller population than my old high school!
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
709 Posts |
Thank you all for the comments.
@oriole
It would be nice to think that I have the only complete collection, but probably not. There is enough stuff out there for another 2499 people to complete one, assuming nothing has been lost from the smallest issue.
I first became aware of the Falkland Islands during the Argentinian invasion of 1982. I was serving at the time, but the furthest South I got was Cornwall. Like the vast majority of Britons I had never heard of the place until then. I was impressed by the demeanour of the people and soon afterwards acquired a few of their coins.
The coin collecting bug only bit me about ten years ago and I looked with fresh eyes at the Falkland issue coins. What struck me most was the beauty of the artwork on the reverses, dare I say it, in my view more attractive than the somewhat boring UK heraldic designs. [ looks over shoulder dreading a beefeater to appear and drag me off to the tower ]. So I collected from there.
@Finn235
Yes these coins do circulate, along with UK and St Helena coins. The two £2 coins in the above sets are commemoratives, so I doubt they did. There is a shed load of "semi bling" NCLT commemoratives which I think is designed to extract cash from people's wallets and place it in the coffers of the mints. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so if my uncouth opinion offends I apologise.
The Falkland pound is pegged 1:1 to the UK pound, and is run by a currency board. They have to lodge a bond of 110% of the value of coins they issue. They cannot touch the capital, but the interest helps administer the system. The currency board also receives payment from companies who issue the NCLT, but I don't know how much.
I am not aware of any reference work dealing with Falkland Islands coins. If anyone knows of such I would love to hear of it. If there is no such work, then maybe there is a niche of research waiting to be explored...
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Replies: 11 / Views: 3,690 |
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Posted 04/08/2019 05:48 am
