This is probably the best coin I've ever found in a dealer's junk bin. I couldn't believe when I saw it there. I've wanted one of these for some time. I know they can be found for enough money, but for 10 cents, it's hard to beat.
I figure the dealer probably thought it was a token or play money and didn't realize it was valuable.
where is this..... some island to the right of UK ? where do you look it up in the Krause ? I looked thru Great Britain and United kingdom and nothing.
just looking over Ebay... here is a 1 puffin for sale at $20.00 that would look great with the 1 you got. link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LUNDY-1929-..._Coins_BritishRegional_RL&hash=item4adaafefff
I can't find it in Krause either, but I consider it a real coin. The story is that Lundy is a island that was part of the U.K., and this guy owned it and decided he wanted to be independent, and make his own money. The king was not amused. I do want to get the 1 puffin too eventually.
lundy is an island in the Bristol channel off the coast of devon. it was owned by martin coles Harman who thought because it was outside of british territorial waters he could issue his own coins,he was charged and found guilty in a long trial,he was fined the small sum of five pounds but the cost of his defence was very expensive. it was eventually bought by union jack heyward who gave it to the nation in the form of the national trust, a lovely place which can and is a tourist attraction.just a few holiday cottages and a pub,many sheep and plenty of puffins which are doing very well at the moment. the coin shown is an half puffin.no great value my book very fine £5,but a very good buy at 10 cents--well done
The Schön world catalog has a "Lundy" page right between Lithuania and Luxembourg. Are these pieces coins? With a population of maybe two dozen these days (not sure how many lived there in the 1920s) you don't really need coins. But I find those interesting too. Side note: That catalog also mentions later issues, denominated in puffins (half puffin, one puffin 1965; half, one, two, four and six puffin/s 2011). Those are certainly imitations, aimed at tourists maybe ... Christian
There is also a Lundy page in Unusual World Coins, between Lithuania and Luxembourg. Your Half Puffin is X #Tn1 in there.
The 2011 pieces are made in China - go figure, brought to you by the same folks making Palestine, Nagorno-Karabagh, Abkhazia etc coins.
