Coins of Lundy
Encyclopedia
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
from the island of Lundy
Lundy
Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, lying off the coast of Devon, England, approximately one third of the distance across the channel between England and Wales. It measures about at its widest. Lundy gives its name to a British sea area and is one of the islands of England.As of...
, in the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
off the west coast of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In 1969 Jack Haywood, a British millionaire, purchased the island for £150,000 and gave it to the British people.
The coin issue of 1929
The first issue was issued in 1929 by the self-declared 'King of Lundy', Martin Coles Harman, who was an English businessman, born 1885, Steyning, Sussex, who bought Lundy in 1925. There were two coins - the Half PuffinPuffin
Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...
and the One Puffin, which were rated at the same nominal value as the British Halfpenny
British Half Penny coin
The British decimal half penny was first issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised. In practice it had been available from banks in bags for some weeks previously....
and Penny
British One Penny coin
The British decimal one penny coin, produced by the Royal Mint, was issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised. In practice, it had been available from banks in bags of £1 for some weeks previously...
. The obverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the coins depict a portrait facing left with 'MARTIN.COLES.HARMAN'. The edges of the coins are lettered with the inscription 'LUNDY LIGHTS AND LEADS', a reference to the island's two lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
s. The reverse of the Half Puffin coin depicts a puffin
Puffin
Puffins are any of three small species of auk in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly coloured beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among...
's head. The reverse of the One Puffin coin depicts a puffin facing left on a rocky ledge. The unfussy and strong design of the coins is regarded as more than competent with significant modernist touches which foresee the high 1930s design school. The currency was called the puffin because the islanders had a long history of bartering puffin feathers for food and other commodities. The coins were made of bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, and landed Harman in trouble with the British authorities in 1930 for unauthorised mint
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
ing of money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
.
Visitors from the island could exchange any remaining 'puffins' at the banks in Bideford, who then returned the Lundy coins to the island (Coin News 1999). The coins were struck in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
by Ralph Heaton's Mint, Birmingham Ltd
Birmingham Mint
The Birmingham Mint, a coining mint, originally known as Heaton's Mint or Ralph Heaton & Sons, in Birmingham, England started producing tokens and coins in 1850 as a private enterprise, separate from, but in cooperation with the Royal Mint. Its factory was situated in Icknield Street , on the edge...
. The currency saw real, if limited use. Martin Coles Harman died in 1954.
50,000 bronze tokens about the size of a penny were minted by Ralph Heaton & Sons, Birmingham in 1929, together with a similar number of articles about the size of a half-penny. The price was 50/9 per 1000 for the larger and 26/6 for the smaller, and there was a £100 fee for preparing the design and sinking the dies.
Bronze pattern coins of the 1929 issue exist with a thicker flange and the lack of an edge inscription. The details on the obverse and reverse also differ slightly. The coins remain highly collectible to this day.
The court cases
Harman had sent specimen coins to the Royal MintRoyal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
and had been thanked for them, although they had warned him about Section 5 of the Coinage Act 1870
Coinage Act 1870
The Coinage Act 1870 stated the metric weights of British coins. For example, it defined the weight of the sovereign as 7.98805 grams...
. Harman replied that Lundy was a little Kingdom in the British Empire, but out of England. He recognised King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
as the head of state, however he was adamant that Lundy was a self-governing dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
within the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. This led to a visit from the Devon Constabulary and a Supt. Bolt and other officers reported seeing the coins (tokens) in use at the Marisco Tavern, mixed with standard British Imperial coinage. Harman lost his case at the Petty Sessions in Bideford and appealed to the High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
where he also lost and was fined £5, with fifteen guineas (£15 15s) costs..
Some details of the court cases
Sir Hugh N. Grenville Stucley was the presiding magistrate at the Petty Sessional Division court which tried the case of Supt. Bolt on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions v. Martin Coles Harman, charged with on the 5th day of March, 1930, in the Island of LundyLundy
Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, lying off the coast of Devon, England, approximately one third of the distance across the channel between England and Wales. It measures about at its widest. Lundy gives its name to a British sea area and is one of the islands of England.As of...
in the County of Devon, did unlawfully as a token for money issue a piece of metal to the value of one half-penny, contrary to Section 5 of the Coinage Act of 1870.
The appeal trial was held on January 13, 1931, at the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, in London, and, it was hoped at the time, would settle the status of Lundy once and for all. It didn't--but it did show how utterly confused the situation was. In his defense, Mr. Harman said he had every right to mint money, for Lundy, in his words, was "a vest-pocket-size, self-governing dominion," out of the realm for every practical purpose. The Lundy residents, he pointed out, never had paid any taxes to England and were liable to customs when they went there, for Lundy itself was a free port. The Attorney General, who was prosecuting Mr. Harman, said that Lundy was surely a Utopia but that its inhabitants would be just as happy if the face of King George V, rather than of Mr. Harman, were depicted on the place's currency. (Mr. Harman's face was on the front of the coins, and that of a puffin on the back. There were two denominations, a one-puffin coin and a half-puffin coin, neatly convertible to a penny and a ha'penny at the legal rate of exchange.
Time (America) report for Monday, January 20th, 1930
Coins denominated the puffin and half-puffin—respectively worth a British penny and half-penny—have just gone into circulation among the 40 dwellers on Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, also called "Puffin Island." Both half and whole puffins bear the likeness of Martin Coles Harman, Esq., London merchant, who bought Puffin Island in 1925 and plays at being its king. On the "tails" side of a puffin is the head of a puffin (sea bird with a parrotlike beak and white cheeks). Puffin Islanders also have puffin stamps. Red and green, in puffin and half-puffin denominations, each having a handsome steel engraving of a puffin perched on a rock.The 1965 issue of Lundy coinage
In 1965, a second issue of coins, made by John Pinches, was carried out. These were a commemorative issue to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Harman's purchase of LundyLundy
Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, lying off the coast of Devon, England, approximately one third of the distance across the channel between England and Wales. It measures about at its widest. Lundy gives its name to a British sea area and is one of the islands of England.As of...
. The coins are of the same design as the 1929 issue coins, but have plain edges. They were struck in Proof
Proof coinage
Proof coinage means special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies and for archival purposes, but nowadays often struck in greater numbers specially for coin collectors . Many countries now issue them....
sets, in bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
-brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
, and gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. They were issued in a special case of which at least two varieties exist. 3000 of the base metal sets were issued and 25 of the gold sets. Apart from the sets, 25 each of the proof gold denominations were also issued for presentation purposes. It has been reported that Lundy puffin forgeries may exist. This seems unlikely and it may be that confusion with the 'pattern coins' or between the 1929 and 1965 issues has resulted in an erroneous interpretation.
2011 coins
A set of five unauthorised 'fantasy' Lundy Puffin coins were put on sale in 2011. These five coins are dated 2011 and are in the Puffin denominations, ranging from half, one, two, four to six. Only half and one Puffin coins have been issued in the past. They carry the same edge inscription as the original coins and the same portrait of Martin Coles Harman. The half and one Puffin are in a copper appearance, the two and four are in a brass appearance and the six Puffins is silver coloured. The half and one are unchanged, whilst the two has two puffins flying, the four a Lundy lighthouse, and the six has Tresco Castle on the reverse. The six puffin coin has a reeded edge and is crown size. The quailty of these coins is surprisingly high.Thomas Bushell and coins of the Civil War
Another possible coinage connection exists through the activities of one Thomas BushellThomas Bushell (mining engineer)
Thomas Bushell was a servant of Francis Bacon who went on to become a mining engineer and defender of Lundy Island for the Royalist cause during the Civil War....
, friend of Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
, a strong supporter of the Royalist cause during the First English Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
and an expert on mining and coining. It has been argued that during his stay on Lundy he produced coinage for King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, however definitive proof has not been found and it remains speculation. He held Lundy for the King and this was the last part of the king's lands to capitulate to the victorious Parliamentary forces after a siege lasting a year.