1929 Lundy Half Puffin Coin

[lecture mode on]

The puffin and half-puffin "coins" of Lundy are probably the most famous example of what I call "diplomatically-challenged coinage" - coins issued by a "country" that was not recognized as a real or separate country by the rest of the world.

Lundy is a small island off the south-western coast of England. In 1924, a fellow by the name of Martin Coles Harman purchased the island. He reckoned that, since he owned the entire island, he could rule it as if it were his own mediaeval-style feudal state, and issued coins, denominated in puffins and half-puffins, for use by the islanders - Lundy would have had a population somewhere around 100 people.

These coins would have remained obscure little novelties had it not been for the British government, who decided to sue Mr Harman for making illegal tokens. Mr Harman's defence was that Lundy was not a part of England but a separate dominion, with it's own laws - an assertion evidenced by the fact that islanders had to pass through customs when they landed on the mainland. Though the courts consented that he had some valid points, he was nevertheless found guilty, fined £5 plus legal expenses, and ordered to withdraw the coins. They have been sought-after collectors items ever since.

[lecture mode off]

Earlier editions of the Krause catalogue, as well as the old Yeoman catalogues, used to list these coins in the main catalogue section, as if they were real coins (though there was normally a footnote giving the story of why they were not, in fact, real coins). In recent years, Krause has taken a more hardline stance against such diplomatically-challenged coins and the puffins of Lundy can now only be found in the "Unusual World Coins" book.


Alas, the reduced exposure caused by their removal from the "mainstream" coin catalogues has somewhat dampened their popularity. But still, $0.00 is very, very cheap for one of these coins. I paid AU$55 for my pair (a puffin and a half) ten years ago.

Hey biokemist6,
How about some pics?

More or less, yes. The only differences that I can see are:
- Lundy was an island, and thus more naturally considerable as "separate". HRP is landlocked.
- Lundy was earlier, and thus had a few more decades to acquire "novelty" status.
- The British government determined that Lundy was not in fact an independent dominion, and ordered Harman to cease and desist. The Australian government has never done likewise with the HRP.

It is probably this similarity between Lundy and other cases such as Sealand and HRP that forced Krause to adopt a consistent attitude and list them all as "unusual".

Sap,

That was an awesome history of the "coin". I figured someone would appreciate the story behind it.

I DON'T HAVE LUNDY COINS! I WANT PICS NOW!
THANKS! C#7842;M ÕN ( VIET NAM)

That is a neat piece.

I would like a half puffin to go with my one puffin. I recall I won a fierce bidding war on e-bay for this so am envious that you guys found half-puffins in a bargain box for next to nothing.