Jewels In The Crown Of George V

I don't see anything on the bright and shiny Geo 6, but see them on the Geo 5 and it looks like there may be more than 4. I can almost see 3-4 more.

link...

http://www.saskatooncoinclub.ca/art...#nl-1c-1917c

I have found myself looking at some truly weird websites listing the various crowns in the English crown jewels. I *think* that the crown that both George V and VI are wearing is a stylized image of St. Edward's crown, in which case none of the details are accurate. Even the eight pearls that we all look at on the next band up are not accurate. So who knows?

[see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Edward%27s_Crown]

But, to return to the coins, there's something on that bottom band for both the Geo V and VI obverse's right? I don't feel like I can make an exact count. As mentioned above, I suspect they indicate both the wear on that lowest band *and* the quality of the original strike. Really, most details do that but in this particular detail seems to be a unique balance of those two things.

It is not jewels on the "lower band" it is part of the ermine lining of the crown.

Different crown design for original photo - only has one band.
Looks to be 8 jewels on the second style crown - one below each of the dual pearls and diamonds. Most don't show up even on MS coins - die could easily get plugged or worn.

This is a question I looked into pretty thoroughly when I was assembling my "British World" collection back in the early 1980's. Having seen plenty of photos and TV clips by then of reigning monarchs wearing crowns, I thought something looked "off" about the reverse of my 1937 and 1938 Australian crowns and with some of the obverse effigies of the 20th-century Georges on Indian and other colonial coinages. It turns out my problem was with the crown itself.

I can't remember my exact source, but I do recall that I found the answer at the old ANS library up in Washington Heights in NYC. What my (now 40-year-old) research turned up was the discovery that since the early 20th century, the only crown allowed to be shown on coins, postage stamps, heraldry, regalia, logos, etc., is really a "cartoon" commissioned by Edward VII. It may have been a way to prevent facsimiles from being produced...is photography permitted in the Tower of London?

Anyway, the crown we see on all (or most of) our post-Victorian coinage is meant to be a representation -- not an accurately detailed rendition -- of the real crown worn by the Queen or King. My vague memory is that it was modeled on Henry VIII's crown, but I can't swear to that and haven't searched for images of that crown (yet).

At its "hatband" level, I believe we're seeing spots in the otherwise white ermine fur...much more noticeable in the close-up photos linked to above by Silver101 and in news photos available online of the three coronations that have taken place since 1910.

Here's what got me started. There is no "real" crown that looks like this.

Happy Holidays to all!
Tom

For us on this site, the photos of the crown itself, and its iterations, mean very little. For us, it is what the Mint's engraver put in/on the crown to make the master dies that the mintmaster approved. In this thread, the OP's coin has bumps or jewels in the lowest portion of the coin. It is not the coloring of the ermine fur ... they are raised projections to me.