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Great Britain's 1951 Commemorative Crown
OBVERSE - Bust of George VI, denticles around rim and lettering:
GEORGIVS VI D:G:BR:OMN:REX F:D: ("George VI by the grace of God King
of Great Britain") [Note that the IMP. IND meaning Emperor of India
no longer appears since India gained it's independence from the British
Empire a few years before.] FIVE SHILLINGS
REVERSE - St. George Slaying The Dragon, designed by Benedetto
Pistrucci with slight modifications. Date of 1951.
EDGE LETTERING - MDCCCLI CIVIUM INDUSTRIA FLORET CIVITAS MCMLI
("1851 By The Industry Of It's People The State Flourishes 1951")
MINTAGE - 2,003,540.
How do you buy a coin that has a 180+ year old design and the same obverse
and reverse as a $1200 piece and yet spend only $10???
In 1818, Benedetto Pistrucci engraved the "St. George Slaying The Dragon"
reverse for the Great Britain crown. Issued in .8409 oz. silver,
an UNC piece with King George III on the obverse will cost you between
$700 and $5000. An UNC silver crown featuring Queen Victoria will
run between $150 and $700. An Edward VII silver crown is upwards
of $200. Issued in gold as 1/2 sovereigns, soveriegns, 2 Pounds,
and 5 Pounds, these pieces can be bought for small premiums above gold
bullion. In 1937, the King George VI obverse was teamed with the
St. George reverse for the 1937 gold proof 1/2 sovereign with a current
value of over $1200. This same design was again issued in a copper-nickel
commemorative crown of 1951 which has a value of $10 in prooflike and $25
in proof.
According to Kenneth E. Bressett in A Guide Book of English Coins
(4th edition - 1965) "The 1951 crown has a dual commemorative function.
First it commemorates the Centenary of the Great Exposition of 1851, and
secondly it celebrates the 1951 Festival of Britain."
So, if you have $1200 to spend on a gold proof 1/2 sovereign, great!
But if you're like me and look for the bargain, spend the $10 instead.
You'll have a beautiful coin and a piece of history.
Related Articles
Prices and Wages in Great Britain
Amazon.com Related Readings
The Anglo-Saxons (Penguin History)
by James Campbell, Eric John, Patrick Wormald List: $26.95 Our Price:
$21.56
You Save: $5.39 (20%) ORDER
BOOK
Rob Helmerichs (rob@minn.net) from Minneapolis, Minnesota , 03/03/98,
rating=9:
The best introduction available to Anglo-Saxon history.
Written by three of the leading historians of the Anglo-Saxon period,
this is easily the best introduction to its subject. The writing is authoritative
yet accessible, giving a good idea not only of the course of Anglo-Saxon
history, but also of the problems with the sources and of disputes within
the historical community. Only in the final chapters, by Eric John, do
major historical disputes sometimes go unnoted; one would not know, e.g.,
from his discussion of Harold Godwineson that some historians greatly respect
Harold, or that not all historians believe that Edward the Confessor firmly
intended William of Normandy to succeed him. To his credit, however, John's
presentation here is more orthodox than elsewhere (for his unadulterated
views, see his contentious and delightful Reassessing Anglo-Saxon England).
The physical presentation of the book is far more attractive than is
usual for textbooks. It is in a large format and lavishly illustrated,
including a number of color pictures, and has several good maps of England
(although it is curiously lacking in maps illustrating the European context
of English history, and it could also use genealogical tables to help sort
through some of the myriad characters). The bibliography is good up to
1981, the original date of publication, but unfortunately it was not updated
when Penguin reissued the book, and thus cannot take account of the scholarship
of the past two decades. It also has, regrettably, "secret" endnotes at
the back of the book, not signaled in the text, which often lead the reader
to primary source material and some secondary discussions; it is well worth
the reader's effort to seek out the endnotes periodically.
In short, The Anglo-Saxons is highly recommended for anybody seeking
a general introduction to the history of this period. My highest praise
is that when I taught a university course on Anglo-Saxon history, this
is the only book I considered for a main textbook.
The Aristocracy in Europe 1815-1914 by Dominic Lieven Our
Price: $17.00
ORDER
BOOK
Lieven (Russian politics and history and political science, London
School of Economics) uses English, Russian, German, and French sources
to examine the lifestyles and political roles of the English, Russian,
and German aristocracies from the defeat of Napoleon to the outbreak of
the First World War. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Email us any information
you think is pertinent to either correct or round out the writings here
and I will be more than happy to post it. Thanks for reading! |
