Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-05-06
COIN OF THE REALM.
The Proposed New Issue-Curiosi-
ties of the Victorian Era.

General interest will be aroused,
says the London Telegraph, by the
announcement in the Court Circular
that the king has given sitting to
G. w. de Saulles, engraver to the
royal mint, who is to design the die
for the new coinage. During her late
majesty's long reign there were many
issues Of varying degrees of artistic
excellence, and it may be confidently
hoped that the forthcoming produc-
ton will avoid past errors, and be
worthy Of their historic value. The
vigorously classical tradition OF
earlier reigns is to be traced IN the
queens head, which for fifty years
was borne on the whole Of our coin
age until the jubilee Of 1887 awak-
ened the nation to the fact that the
familiar profile, with the Greek Knot
at the back of the head was in no
sense a living likeness Of our loved
ruler, and a new portrait appeared on
the silver and gold which passed out
Of the mint in that year. This repre-
sented the queen W4.4l a small but
somewhat high imperial crown, but
although bearing a greater re-
semblance to her majesty as we then
knew her, the design was never
popular, and in 1892 a committee, con-
sisting of Sir John Lubbock, Sir
Frederick Leighton, the deputy
master of the mint, and others, was
appointed to consider sketches by
various artists. The result of their
deliberations was the issue in the
following year of new coins, gold, sill
yer, and copper, with the head by Mr.,
Brock, the reverse of the gold G5, 81,
SCI, and los. pieces, and of the crown,
bearing the beautiful St. George and
the dragon designed by Pistrucci in
1917, while the reverse Of the half
crown was by Mr.. Brock, and that OF
the form and shilling were by Mr..
(now Sir) E. J. Poynter.
Although we still talk of "coppers. Z
the smaller coins, as every school boy
knows, are Of bronze. The chans9 in
the metal was made in 1860. No
material alienation took place in the
reserve Of these smaller denomina-
tons until 1890, when, for some
mysterious reason, the lighthouse and
full-rigged ship, which fanked
Britannia, were taken off, and not
even a torpedo-boat, much less a
battlesbip, substituted. The checkered
career of the form is in everyone's
recollection, but the fact may be re
called that the first issue-in. 1915
was known as ''the goddess fo.in,
because of the omission Of the words,
Del Gratia" from the inscription on
the diverse. The double form was
introduced in 1887, and was similar i'll
design to the smaller coin.
Among the curiosities of the
Victorian coinage was the fact that
from 1848 to 1878 no crowns we're
issued, and from 1848 to 1874 half
crowns also were discontinued, until
the 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 a quarter, in 1861. still
contributes to the troubles of the
thriftless housekeeper, who has a
hole in her purse, and to the self
respect of the economical churchgoe1,
who never gives less than silver.
In the silver coinage, even more
than the gold, there is room for i'm
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 gloties
Of the Lion" shilling, or the equally
meritorious sixpence of George N.