2017-05-04 Thu

UK planned to release new crown coins in 1951 after a 13-year gap. The coins were to be struck in copper-nickel and the earlier issues were minted in silver. The edge inscription features the Festival of Britain, an exhibition that was going to be held in that year.

Due to the new composition and edge lettering, a lot of tests needed to be performed. This resulted in several ‘pattern’ and ‘trial’ coins. In most cases, these kinds of coins are destructed. Two 1950 Crown Patterns exist today making them extremely rare.

These patterns were struck using leftover 1937 Crown dies and an edge lettering collar that was used to strike Maria Theresa Thaler restrikes in the 1940s. This was done because the coins were struck before the 1951 Festival of Britain dies were made. The test coin also depicts the number “120” which was hand-engraved by Royal Mint staff to represent the tonnage setting of the press used to strike it.

These trial coins were first reported by Stephen Hill in the Numismatic Circular in October 1998. They were probably saved from destruction by some Mint worker and today they reveal a lot about how the Royal Mint functioned in the 20th century.