This is actually a very interesting and important question. As we all know these critters were .925 fine silver and quite large. Don't have the mintage figures handy but my guess is that they were "show pieces". I.e. they didn't circulate very much and mostly everything was handled by shillings and gold sovereigns. Everybody else who made coins that actually circulated used .875 to .900 silver and lower weights, like 25 grams. Even Latin American crowns (8 reales of this time) were mostly made for non-circulating bullion payments! But what do I know, I collect Ancients & Latin American. However I do have a a British crown or two but only cheap ones!!!
you find these today showing plenty of signs of use,to find one in very high grade is rare.mintage figures are high for the time---for example 1889 1,807,22 -1890 99,862------the double florin 1887-1890 was taken out of use because it was confused with the crown in the taverns and wrong change was give-hence the knickname BARMAIDS RUIN--at a time of wealth in the country a crown was not that high a value and I think that they would have circulated a lot
thanks for posting this mat,interesting thread--doug I have researched wages in victorian England this is what I found---bank cashier 13 years service £155 per year---general office clerk 25 shilling per week---laundry washer woman 15 shillings per week--sewer flusher !!!24 shilling per week---telegraph clerk female first class £80-£100 per year -----when you think very few people had bank accounts most of these people would have had a crown in their pay packet.-----------------looking at the bank cashier I think that was good when I started in a bank in 1961 my pay was £285 a year !!!!! how did I survive
How did we make it? Mom and Dad started my first bank account I still have but has changed names over years . My first real pay check was $110.00+40.00 was combat pay that was also free food and bunk as home 24/7+366days a yr . How did we make it or live. I knew a few Royal Army troops back then it's not like we had a lot of places for entertainment in the jungles .
Nice pick up, Mat. I like New Zealand crowns, half-crowns and florins myself. I picked up one of these recently. Designed by James Berry to commemorate a visit by George VI. George got sick and didn't visit(!), but the coin got minted anyway.
two crowns 1935 issued for the silver jubilee of George v--known as the rocking horse crown--should have xxv on the edge
this is a veiled head crown 1897---veiled head crowns were issued 1893-1900---they have a difference to the jubilee head crowns shown in so much as they have an edge year --this one decus et tutamen anno regni lx (ornament and safeguard in the year of her reign sixty )Victoria came to the throne on 20th june 1837 so this coin was minted between 20 th june and December 31 st 1897
Yep, William IV. There was one on Teletrades some years ago in PF-64. I didn't buy it which was a major mistake. I think there were only 100 made or some thing for the 1831. Consider yourself lucky as a William IV crown is a nice piece to have.
Very interesting and [IMO] insightful post. Most 19th century British crowns were quite circulated and it's a little tough to find a nice unc one --well tougher than finding an unc Morgan at least. Yet I cannot imagine people wanting to carry these big things around. I'd imagine that a small little 1/2 soverign at 10 shillings was a lot easier to use than a big huge 5 shilling silver crown. I know that when Napoleon III was forced to leave France [1870] he stopped at a private house his final day in France. He paid for his lodgings with a pair of 5 franc gold pieces (like US gold dollars in size), not with a pair of 25 gram, 5 franc silver crowns. So why did they make them (the crowns)? They're huge in size. Was it one or two guys that decided to circulate them all? I've never read of one being spent in comparary literature.
Now you just have to get the 1st one issued by Henry 8th... Technically it's a medallion issued to commemorate annexation of church properties & maybe his new role as Head of the Church of England. However it's crown-sized and struck in silver [sterling???]. I think it was made around 1537 or so. It's a facing portrait: just like his shillings or "testoons" but it's a little rare & expensive. No doubt about it, crowns are neat coins.
