8 gm gold .9167 Obverse: QE II "1.05 pounds" Reverse has "East India Company" "One Guinea" What can anyone tell me about this coin?
Saint Helena is a British colony located about 1,150 miles (1,850 km.) from the west coast of Africa, has an area of 47 sq. mi. and a population of about 7,000. The capital is Jamestown. Ascension and Tristan da Cunha are apparently dependencies of Saint Helena. I do not have my 2000-2013 Krause coin catalog with me. I suspect St Helena did not make any gold Guinea coins for circulation in 2012 (if that is the date on your coin). Perhaps it is something made for collectors as a bullion piece. I don’t know so please wait for someone with good information to reply to your question. The knowledgeable folks at CoinTalk would want to see the coin so post a photo if you have one. Welcome to CoinTalk. :welcome:
Supposedly there were only 105 minted. But the East India Company web site has a 2013, so maybe 105 per year minted?
Since the British government took over the East India Company in the 1860s I believe, it's weird that they still have a website and/or coins. I think St. Helena is the type of place where all of its coins are really for collectors. Certainly the gold coins are.
Saint helena coins Amazing denomination : The reason is that a guinea coin had a value of 21 shillings between 1713 -1813 , a pound was divided to 20 shillings , so 21 / 20 = 1.05 pound. http://giladzuckerman.webs.com/mercuguinness.html#HELENA
Actually the value fluctuated between 20 shillings as as much as 30 shillings until it was fixed at 21 shillings in 1816. The denomination is still used today in horse sales - mostly for "auction commission tax" purposes.
