Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-05-02
COIN OF THE REALM.
The Proposed New issue-Curiosi.
ties of the Victorian Era.

General interest will be aroused
announcement in the Court CireIla
hat the king has given sitting t
I w. de Sauiles, angraver TO tn
oval mint, who is to design the dit
or the new coinage. During fic1~ Il, e.
lajesty's long reign there were maal
ssues of varying degrees of artistic
excellence, and il may be confidently
oped that the Forthcoming produC
ion will avoid past errors, and b,
-orthy of their historic value. TIL,
igorously classical tradition o
arlier reigns is to be traced in the
ueen's head, which for fifty years
vas borne on the whole of our coin
ge, until the jubilee Of 1887 awak
ned the nation TO- the fact that Iht
familiar profile with the Greek Knot
at the back of the head, was in no
sense a living likeness of our loved
ruler, and new portrait appeared on
the silver and gold which passed out
of the mint in that year. This repre-
scented the queen w.,u a small but
somewhat high imperial crown. but
although bearing greater re-
semblance to her majesty as we then
knew her, the design was ne5Cr
popular, and in 1892 committee, on
sisting of Sir John Lubbock Sin
Frederick Leighton, the deputy
master of the mint, and others, was
appointed to consider sketches by
.arious artists. The result Of thel
deliberations was the issue in tn,
following year of new coins, gold, sill
er, and copper. with the head by Mr.
Crock, the reverse of the gold e5, 4
{ /. and los. pieces. and of the crown,
bearing The beautiful St. George anu
the dragon designed by Pistrucci in
1917, while the reverse of the half-
own was by Mr.. Brock, and that
he form and shilling were by MI
now SIR f. j. Poynter.
Although we still talk of "coppers,
ne smalle" coins, as every schoo DO!
nows, are of bronze. The chang. il
he metal was made in 1860 Nc
aterial alienation took place in th,
reserve of these smaller denomina-
ons until 1890, when, for some
Mysterious reason, the lighthouse ano
ull-rigged ship which flankea
britannia, were taken off, and moi
ven torpedo-boat. much less
oattleship, substituted. The checkered
areer Of the form is in everyone's
collection, but the fact may be re
allied that the first issue-in 1919
vas known as the goddess flo IN,
because of the omission of the words
Del Gratia" from the inscription on
he diverse. The double form va
Introduced in 1887, and was similar in
lesign to the smaller coin.
Among the curiosities of The
Victorian coinage was the fact that
rom 1S4S to 1878 no crowns we're
Ssued and from 1S4S to 1874 half
.rowns also were discontinued. until
he representations of bankers in
duced the authorities once more to
send them into circulation. The four
penny piece, which first came into
use the year before the queens acces-
sion, is no longer with us, but the
threepenny, which came into exist
ence, to the number of over three
millions and quarter, in 1861, still
contributes to the troubles of the
thriftless housekeeper, who has a
hole III her purse, and to the self
respect of the economical churchgoeI,
who never gives less than silver
In the silver coinage, even more
than the gold, there is room for inn
provement, from the purely artistic
point Of view, and perhaps we may see
in the new shilling and In the six
pence something to rival the glosies
of the Lion" shilling, or the equally
meritorious sixpence Of George ~.