Guernsey Pre-Decimal Coins
This page is a presentation of my modest collection of Guernsey coins. Only 'double' coinage (1830-1966) is covered, although I also have some decimal Guernsey coins. When organizing my collection I haven't been able to find illustrations for varieties of 1858/1864/1868 coins; only textual descriptions or very poor reproductions were available. I have then started to photograph my coins, and the images became a foundation for this work; hope it will be useful for Guernsey coin collectors. If you have something to add, please don't hesitate to write me. Corrections to my English are also welcome.
To view high-resolution photo, click on the image. Numbers prefixed by E refer to W. Exley work (see bibliography at the end of the page.) Remember the obverse is a side with shield of arms, and reverse is one with date.
William III, Victoria, Edward VII
| 1 double | 1830 | 1868 | 1885 | 1889 | 1893 | 1899 | 1902 | 1903 | ||||||
| 2 doubles | 1858 | 1868 | 1874 | 1885 | 1889 | 1899 | 1902 | 1903 | 1906 | 1908 | ||||
| 4 doubles | 1830 | 1858 | 1864 | 1868 | 1874 | 1885 | 1889 | 1893 | 1902 | 1903 | 1906 | 1908 | 1910 | |
| 8 doubles | 1834 | 1858 | 1864 | 1868 | 1874 | 1885 | 1889 | 1893 | 1902 | 1903 | 1910 |
George V, George VI, Elizabeth II
| 1 double | 1911 | 1914 | 1929 | 1933 | 1938 | |||||||||
| 2 doubles | 1911 | 1914 | 1917 | 1918 | 1920 | 1929 | ||||||||
| 4 doubles | 1911 | 1914 | 1918 | 1920 | 1945 | 1949 | 1956 | 1966 | ||||||
| 8 doubles | 1911 | 1914 | 1918 | 1920 | 1934 | 1938 | 1945 | 1947 | 1949 | 1956 | 1959 | 1966 | ||
| 3 pence | 1956 | 1959 | 1966 |
Mintage 1,648,640. Copper. Coin alignment.
Varieties of this coin are described at separate page.
Mintage 655,200. Copper. Coin alignment. This coins probably deserves more attention. Given mintage number, die variations might exist but I can't detect them between my three samples.
E2. Normal.
E2A. Little die defect to the left of E on reverse. Strictly speaking, this is not different coin; just the later state of the reverse die.
Mintage 221,760. Copper. Coin alignment. Large, thick, quite heavy coin. At least two varieties (requires more investigation!). Reverse dies seem to be the same in my specimens. The coin is quite common.
E3. Normal. Long stem of top leaves on obverse.
E3A. Close crosslet. I have yet to see it.
E3B. Disconnected top left berry on obverse. My comparison shows that the die is slightly different from E3, so this is not a result of a weak strike.
E4. Mintage 56,128. Copper. Coin alignment.
Mintage 114,060. Copper. Coin alignment. Two varieties; E6 seems to be more common.
E5. Type 1. Legend (Guernsey) more spaced. The 3 leaves surmounting shield are well clear.
E6. Type 2. Legend (Guernsey) closely spaced. The leaves surmounting shield are low and nearly touching.
For quite some time I was puzzled as to what are the real differences between E5 and E6. Finally I have been able to obtain both varieties and can confirm that right leaf on E6 is lower than on E5, and spacing of "GUERNESEY" is different. The latter isn't easy to spot, so checking leaves is a better option. Even easier is to examine the position of the middle leaf: it clearly points to the dot on E5 and between the dots on E6. Here's an illustration; E5 is on the left. Note the distance between the right leaf and the shield of arms.
Mintage 111,469. Copper. Coin alignment. Three varieties, easy to differentiate by obverse. Reverse dies of E7 and E8 are the same in my specimens, but the reverse of E7A differs.
E7. Normal. Bow on reverse is normal. Stem of first inner top-left berry on obverse comes from the main stem.
E7A. Top of bow on reverse is squashed down. Stem of first inner top-left berry on obverse comes from top of leaf.
E8. No berry to left of bow on obverse.
Mintage 212,976. Bronze. Seven or more varieties. Medal alignment. Dies are described at separate page. E9-E9D have one stalk and E10-E10A have three stalks on shield leaves.
E9. Dies 3+B. One stalk, centre leaf short. U higher than B. This one is commonest.
E9A. Dies 5+C. One stalk, bottom lion well clear of base of shield, left leaf has a stalk. U level with B.
E9B. Dies 3+A. One stalk, centre leaf short. 4/5 overdate.
E9C. Dies 4+B. One stalk, centre leaf long. U higher than B. Fairly common.
E9D. Dies 4*+B*. Deteriorated state of dies 4 and B.
E10. Dies 1+A. Three stalks, bottom lion has long leg. 4/5 overdate. Supposedly scarcest.
E10A. Dies 2+A. Three stalks, bottom lion has short leg. 4/5 overdate. Medal alignment, slightly rotated.
Mintage 284,736. Bronze. Medal alignment, often rotated by 15-20 degrees. Six obverse and seven reverse dies; 11 combinations according W. Exley. Dies are described at separate page.
E11. Dies A+1. Rotated medal alignment.
E12. Dies A+2.
E13. Dies A*+2. Rusted state of die A. Rotated medal alignment.
E14. Dies B+2. Rotated medal alignment.
E15. Dies B+3. Rotated medal alignment.
E16. Dies C+3.
E17. Dies C+3a.
E18. Dies D+3.
E19. Dies D+4.
E19A. Dies D1+4 (E. Matthes, 1968).
E20. Dies E+5. Straight medal alignment. Sealy marks this as commonest.
E20A. Rusted state of dies E and 5. Both dies are rusted, obverse and reverse, and fields are also heavily rusted (see my sample). Straight medal alignment. I have never seen it mentioned as a separate variety. It is not rare and can be found in various states of die deterioration.
Mintage 64,368. Bronze. Coin alignment. Two varieties.
E21. Type 1. Normal.
E22. Type 2. Most sources describe this variety as "date overprinted on 1830 rev," but this does not seem likely. Read excellent analysis by Thulium, member of World of Coins forum. This one seems to be more common than E21.
Mintage 35,136. Bronze. Coin alignment. Two varieties.
E23. 1 stalk to crest leaves.
E24. 3 stalks to crest leaves.
Mintage 57,696. Bronze. Two varieties. Coin alignment.
E25. Type 1. Date normal spacing, 9 mm.
E26. Type 2. Long date, 10 mm.
The simplest way to differentiate between types 1 and 2 is to measure the length of date, but when you can only see image of a coin on online auction site, you can't measure length of date! Check the distance between D in DOUBLES and the rim; on type 2 this space is just enough to fit another D while on type 1 it is significantly larger (see illustration below; type 1 is above).
On my specimens obverse dies are also different in Type 1 and Type 2; note the distance between the head of the top lion and edge of a shield.
Mintage 54,720. Bronze. Coin alignment. Five varieties described by W. Marshall-Fraser; Exley only traced types I and III. Same reverse for all varieties, only obverse differs.
E27. Type I. Obv Left 11 L 5B as 3-4-4, 2-2-1. Obv Right 11 L 5B as 2-1-4-4, 1-1-2-1. Rev Left 13 L 7B as 3-3-4-3, 2-2-2-1. Rev Right 12 L 7B as 3-3-3-3, 2-2-2-1.
E27A. Severely disjointed wreath stem on obv, right side. Stem hits 3rd leaf in centre of it. Mentioned by unknown collector 27/01/1978.
E28. Type II. Obv Left 11 L 4B as 3-4-4, 2-2. Obv Right 11 L 5B as 2-1-4-4, 1-1-2-1. Rev as Type I. This one could be the same as E29. One extra leaf on obverse is barely visible and could go unnoticed.
E29. Type III. Obv Left 12 L 4B as 3-5-4, 2-2. Obv Right 11 L 5B as 2-1-4-4, 1-1-2-1. Rev as Type I.
E30. Type IV. Obv Left 12 L 5B as 3-5-4, 2-2-1. Obv Right 11 L 5B as 2-1-4-4, 1-1-2-1. Rev as Type I.
E31. Type V. Obv Left 11 L 6B as 3-4-4, 2-2-2. Obv 11 L 5B as 2-1-4-4, 1-1-2-1. Rev as Type I.
Mintage 45,216. Bronze. Coin alignment. Three varieties. Obverse dies of E32 and E33A seem to be the same. Types E33 and E33A can be the same coin; ghost in E33A is small and could go unnoticed. I have yet to see E33 (long date without the ghost).
E32. Type I. Short date. 7 mm.
E33. Type II. Long date. 9 mm.
E33A. Type III. Long date (9 mm). 4 over 5 in date; ghost is small but recognizable.
Differentiating between long and narrow dates is easy; look not at the length of date which is not obvious but compare the distance between D of "DOUBLES" and the rim. On Type I another D can be fitted between D and rim.
Mintage 69,216. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E34. Normal. All my samples have defect on top of figure 8 in date.
E34A. Long date. Mentioned by an unknown collector.
Mintage 73,248. Bronze. Coin alignment. The numbers of dies and varieties are not fully known; see details at a separate page.
E36 (1+A), Marshal-Fraser Type 2. Slightly rotated coin alignment in my specimens. This one is commonest.
E37 (2+B), Marshal-Fraser Type 3.
E38 (1+C), not described by Marshal-Fraser. Scarce.
E39 (3+B), Marshal-Fraser Type 4. Mentioned by Patrick McKenzie in 1978.
E39A (4+B), Marshal-Fraser Type 5. Not traced.
E40. Mintage 76,800. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E41. Mintage 76,800. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E42. Mintage 69,696. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E43. Mintage 69,696. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E44. Mintage 112,016. Bronze. Medal alignment. I have two of them, second one shows some signs of die deterioration.
E45. Mintage 35,616. Bronze. Medal alignment.
Mintage 103,744. Bronze. Medal alignment. Two varieties.
E46. Type 1. Normal.
E47. Type 2. 9 of date is closer to 8 and higher than rest of date.
The difference between Types 1 and 2. Type 1 is above, type 2 below.
Mintage 215,620. Bronze. Medal alignment. Two varieties.
E48. Type 1. Normal.
E49. Type 2. 9 of date seems to be stuck up above the rest of date, making it stand out, also curl of 9 at bottom is tighter than Type 1.
The difference between types 1 and 2 is quite subtle, so here's a detailed illustration. Type 1 is above, type 2 below. Look at the position of digit 9.
E50. Mintage 56,016. Bronze. Medal alignment.
E51. Mintage 52,224. Bronze. Medal alignment.
Mintage 117,600. Bronze. Medal alignment. Three varieties.
E52. Type 1. Normal (Mintmark H has horizontal bar).
E52A. Bar in mintmark missing. Reverse die is the same as E52, except bar in mintmark. No traces are seen in H where bar should be. Most likely this is an early state of E52 die.
E53. Type 2. Larger "DOUBLE" letters, larger date numbers.
Types 1 and 2 can be easily differentiated by looking at the outline of digits 9 and 3 in date. Type 1 is at left, type 2 at right. Obverse dies seem to be the same on my E52 and E53 specimens.
Mintage 56,000. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E54. Normal. My specimen looks like it was gilded in the past.
E54A. Second 9 of date much closer spaced.
E55. Mintage 35,636. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E56. Mintage 84,000. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E57. Mintage 17,818. Bronze. Coin alignment.
Mintage 104,534. Bronze. Coin alignment. Two varieties (discovered by myself).
E58. Normal. Digit 9 of date is slightly higher than zero
E58A. Digit 9 of date is slightly lower than zero.
E59. Mintage 235,200. Bronze. Coin alignment.
Reverse dies are slightly different in two of my specimens; the difference is quite minor. This requires more investigations.
Mintage 112,000. Bronze. Two varieties. Coin alignment.
E60. Type 1. Normal date spacing.
E61. Type 2. The 3 of date is closer to the 0.
How to recognize types 1 and 2: check the distance between 0 and 3. Type 1 is above, type 2 below.
E62. Mintage 17,828. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E63. Mintage 52,267. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E64. Mintage 117,600. Bronze. Coin alignment, slightly rotated in my specimen.
E65. Mintage 17,820. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E66. Mintage 52,266. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E67. Mintage 17,780. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E68. Mintage 25,760. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E69. Mintage 52,267. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E70. Mintage 91,467. Bronze. Coin alignment.
Mintage 134,000. Bronze. Coin alignment. Two varieties (old and new shield design). Half of the mintage has old design and other half has new.
E71. Old shield (lions).
E72. New shield (leopards).
E73. Mintage 28,509. Bronze. Coin alignment. Old shield.
E74. Mintage 52,267. Bronze. Coin alignment. Old shield.
E75. Mintage 78,400. Bronze. Coin alignment. Old shield.
E76. Mintage 44,800. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E77. Mintage 28,509. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E78. Mintage 209,067. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E79. Mintage 156,800. Bronze. Coin alignment (slightly rotated).
Mintage 14,524. Bronze. Coin alignment. The smallest mintage of the series.
E80. Type 1. Date spacing equal, normal type.
E80A. Type 2. The 7 in date is much closer to the 1.
E81. Mintage 57,018. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E82. Mintage 156,800. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E83. Mintage 156,800. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E84. Mintage 57,018. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E85. Mintage 156,800. Bronze. Coin alignment.
Mintage 156,800. Bronze. Coin alignment. Two varieties.
E86. Normal (0 in date is lower than other digits). This one seems to be more common.
E86A. Raised 0 in date, leans forward. Mentioned by an unknown collector. I can only guess that my sample corresponds to this description. Zero in date is level with the rest of figures, and it does not significantly leans forward. The die however is different from E86.
The close-up of the date in my two samples. Both images are aligned on the word DOUBLES.
E87. Mintage 79,100. Bronze. Coin alignment.
Mintage 79,100. Bronze. Coin alignment. Two varieties.
E88. Type 1. Normal. I have two specimens.
E89. Type 2. 'H' mint mark offset from centre (higher than Type 1).
E90. Mintage 96,000. Bronze. Coin alignment.
Mintage 123,600. Bronze. Coin alignment. Three varieties.
E91. Normal.
E91A. 9 in the date higher and out of alignment.
E92. Proof-like version, minted in 1935 but bearing the date 1934, mintage 500. Quite rare due to low mintage.
Here's an illustration of difference between E91 (top) and E91A (bottom). Look at the position of digit 9 relative to the red line. Alignment of digit 3 is also different.
Mintage 96,000. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E93. Normal.
E93a. Wide spaced 8 in date (note the distance between digits 3 and 8).
Mintage 120,000. Bronze. Coin alignment. Two varieties.
E94. Type 1. Normal.
E95. Type 2. 1 in date higher and out of alignment. This one seems to be more common.
The difference between types 1 and 2 is quite minor. Check the position of digit 1 relative to the red line.
E96. Mintage 96,000. Bronze. Coin alignment. Note that date is engraved in different font.
E97. Mintage 192,000. Bronze. Coin alignment. Note that date is engraved in different font.
E98. Mintage 240,000. Bronze. Coin alignment. One of my three specimens has strange defect on reverse; part of wreath to right is missing. Both obverse and reverse dies seem to be the same, so this defect is probably strike fault.
E99. Mintage 19,200. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E100. Mintage 230,400. Bronze. Coin alignment.
E102. Mintage 240,000. Bronze. New design. Coin alignment.
Proof from the set:
E103. Mintage 480,000. Bronze. New design. Medal alignment.
Proof from the set:
E101. Mintage 480,000. Cupro nickel.
Proof from the set:
E105. Mintage 480,000. Bronze. Medal alignment.
E104. Mintage 480,000. Cupro nickel.
Mintage 10,000. Bronze. Proof only.
Mintage 10,000. Bronze. Proof only.
Mintage 10,000. Cupro nickel. Proof only.
10 shillings 1966
E106. Mintage 300,000. Cupro nickel.
Proof from the set:
1956 proof set. Mintage 1,050. It might look plain and even boring, but in fact most sets being sold are beautifully toned. Bronze coins display subtle rainbow colours, a sight to see! The photo does not do it justice.
1966 proof set. Mintage 10,000. Only 10 shillings were issued for general circulation in 1966; 4 and 8 doubles are proof only.
Bibliography
W. Exley. Guernsey Coinage (A Historical and Numismatic Monograph). Revised edition, May 1969. 'E'+numbers are from this work. The original with latest author's corrections is now in my possession. [Available for download from Bill Exley]
Standard Catalogue of British Coins, volume 2. Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Man & Lundy). Pre-Decimal Issues. Third Edition. Spink & Son Ltd., 2015.
D.L.F. Sealy. The Guernsey Eight Doubles of 1864. BNJ 33 (1964), 164-7. [Download from BN Soc. Journal]
W. Marshall-Fraser. The coinages of the Channel Islands. Transactions of La Societe Guernesiaise, Vol. XIV, Part 3, p.298, 1948. A copy can be obtained from La Societe or from Guernsey State Archives (archives@gov.gg). Thirty five pages of quite interesting information.
F. Pridmore. Coins of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Part I European Territories. 1960. [Note: I don't have it!]
From the archive of W.Exley
W. Exley. Corrections to book "Guernsey Coinage". [Download]
W. Exley. Guernsey Coinage. Coin Monthly, June-July 1969. [Download]
W. Exley. Excerpt from article in Coin Monthly, Aug 1977. [Download]
W. Exley. Handwritten note on 8 doubles 1868 E27A variety. [Download]
A. Ritchie. Guernsey 4 doubles 1864. Coins, December 1972 [Download]
D.J.Jones. Guernsey and its coinage. Coin Year Book, 1980 [Download]
A. Dowle. Collecting coins of the Channel Islands; J. Matthews. Ancient coins of the Channel Islands. Coin Digest, July/August 1970. [Download]
Cutouts from papers, circa 1968-1972. [Download]
Copyright (C) 2020-2023 Sergey Ayukov <s.ayukov@gmail.com>.
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