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JM34828

Elizabeth II 1963 pattern Uniface Decimal 8-coin Set MS61-64 with original box

Regular price £25,000
Regular price Sale price £25,000

Elizabeth II (1952-2022), Pattern uniface Decimal Currency Set, 1963, eight-coin Set with trial uniface denominations consisting of, silver 20 Pence undated obverse, crowned and draped bust of Queen right, by Arnold Machin, legend with beaded border and raised rim surrounding, ELIZABETH. II D. G. REGINA. F. D, rev. blank with raised rim, edge milled (KM-TS13), NGC graded MS62; silver 20 Pence uniface reverse, 1963, Royal arms at centre surmounted by crowned helm, with Order of the Garter surrounding with incuse motto, HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, crowned lion supporter to left, unicorn with crown on neck with chain supporter to right, leaf garnish surrounding and banner motto incuse below, DIEU ET MON DROIT, large value 20 below, legend surrounds design with beaded border and raised rim, DECIMAL PENCE 1963, rev. blank with raised rim, edge milled (KM-TS14), NGC graded MS63; silver 10 Pence uniface reverse, 1963, St George in flowing cape on horseback slaying dragon left, value 10 below, legend surrounds design with beaded border and raised rim, DECIMAL PENCE 1963, rev. blank with raised rim, edge milled (KM-TS12), NGC graded MS61; silver 5 Pence uniface reverse, 1963, three crowns in a triangular formation, the top one slightly larger than two below, all over value 5, legend surrounds design with beaded border and raised rim, DECIMAL PENCE 1963, rev. blank with raised rim, edge milled (KM-TS11), NGC graded MS62; bronze 2 Pence uniface reverse, 1963, Britannia with shield and trident seated half right, looking to left wearing helmet, 2 below, legend surrounds design with beaded border and raised rim, DECIMAL PENCE 1963, rev. blank with raised rim, edge milled (KM-TS10), NGC graded MS64BN; bronze 1 Penny uniface reverse, 1963, crown and palm branch over two shields, left with Scottish style lion rampant left, right shield with Scottish saltire St Andrew's cross, 1 below, legend surrounds design with beaded border and raised rim, DECIMAL PENNY 1963, rev. blank with raised rim, edge milled (KM-TS9), NGC graded MS64BN; bronze Halfpenny uniface reverse, 1963, dragon passant left, ½ below, legend surrounds design with beaded border and raised rim, DECIMAL PENNY 1963, rev. blank with raised rim, edge milled (KM-TS8), NGC graded MS64BN; aluminium Quarter Penny uniface reverse, 1963, rose in bloom of Tudor style over two flowering rose stems with leaves and thorns, ¼ below, legend surrounds design with beaded border and raised rim, DECIMAL PENNY 1963, rev. blank with raised rim, edge milled (KM-TS7), NGC graded MS64; with original deluxe case, Royal Mint crest stamped inside white satin lid, black pad of eight roundels with black lift pulls, blue outer with gold embossed border pattern, gold block lettering on outer lid in four lines, PATTERNS / FOR THE / DECIMAL CURRENCY / 1963 (K.M. TS13, TS14, TS12, TS11, TS10, TS9, TS8, TS7). Such a complete set of the highest rarity, especially with an original box which we have not seen before, some toning all as issued and third party graded as list below (8).

NGC Certifications:
- Silver Trial Twenty Pence Obverse MS62, Certification 6491174-002

- Silver Trial Twenty Pence Reverse MS63, Certification 6491174-003

- Silver Trial Ten Pence MS61, Certification 6491174-004

- Silver Trial Five Pence MS62, Certification 6491174-005

- Bronze Trial Two Pence MS64 BN, Certification 6491174-006

- Bronze Trial Penny MS64 BN, Certification 6491174-007

- Bronze Trial Halfpenny MS64 BN, Certification 6491174-008

- Aluminium Trial Fourpence MS64, Certification 6491174-009

On the 19th December 1961 the Chancellor of the Exchequer Selwyn Lloyd, announced the formation of the Decimal Currency Board as a Committee of Enquiry chaired by the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Halsbury, having been spurred on by a joint report by the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association of British Chambers of Commerce entitled "Decimal Coinage and the Metric System - Should Britain Change?". The committee was made up of ten members including Chairman and Vice as well as the addition of a secretary. This Board reported to and in unison with the Royal Mint Advisory Committee (R.M.A.C.) consisting of 15 members whose President was Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh. A decision was made to adopt the Pound Sterling of 100 pence and designs were worked upon by a selection of artists who competed to submit their obverse and reverse renditions. Much of the original correspondence of the R.M.A.C. for this period is available to read online at the Royal Mint Museum website www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk and the Decimal Currency Board minutes are held at Kew. In summary through 1962 and into 1963 the clear frontrunner for the new obverse design was that by Arnold Machin which went on to appear on the currency coinage from 1968 to 1984, and whose design appears in this set as the uniface obverse for which he had two sittings with the Queen. The reverse designs in this set are all the work of Christopher Ironside as the first accepted proposals for a new decimal coinage. It is interesting to see the range of denominations proposed and that the largest 20 pence is more or less Crown sized (a 20 pence coin was not issued to 1982 of a smaller heptagonal format) and progressed right down to a lowly Quarter Penny which was latterly not required. There had been a proposal in December of 1962 to issue a 3 pence coin presumably this and the Quarter Penny reflecting the fact there was a Threepenny bit and a Farthing of these values in the pre-decimal series, but by 1963 and this set of coins the 3 pence proposal had become a 2 decimal Pence coin. The reverse designs were nearly all in place on Ironside's drawing board as presented at a R.M.A.C. meeting on 15th May 1963. By early 1964 trial strikes of the obverse and reverses were being shown at these meetings to the members who gave comment and advice on any changes and by the meeting of 29th April 1964 aside from some small changes on the lowlier denominations and some issues with lettering, hearty congratulations were being conveyed towards the designers Machin and Ironside on their works. However, wrangling over the design of Britannia and St George and dragon which are shown on the 2 pence and 10 pence coins continued into 1965 and 1966. This culminated in Christopher Ironside being invited to attend the meeting of 27th October 1966 to try and resolve final issues and subsequent tweaks were made to produce the trial designs herewith. However, despite Machin and Ironside being the winners of the "team exercise", the Chancellor of the Exchequer wished to then open up the designing of the new decimal coinage denominations to more artists in a competition generating some 900 entries which had to be considered in the 18th January 1967 meeting. The recommendation for which was to continue with the previous winners Machin and Ironside and to use new designs Ironside entered into that competition.

This means that the set of coins herewith offered was likely produced before this point in time especially as photographs of some of the coin trials appeared in the meeting minutes of 1965 through 1966, though it is hard to tell if they are plaster renditions or metallic coins. As it seems both artists were declared winners of the team exercise by late 1966 it would make sense for these trials to have been produced no later than the Autum/Winter of 1966 though the trials are dated 1963. The whole decimal consideration and production process took nearly a decade from fruition to Decimal Day on 15th February 1971.

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