Coin & Banknote Collecting: 1936 Edward VIII Unofficial Pattern (Fantasy) Crown - The Gravy Train

Welcome to this month’s installment of The Gravy Train’s ‘Numismatic Item of the Month’, for the month of December (2022). This month we feature the Edward VIII Unofficial Pattern (Fantasy) Crown 1936

After the death of King George V in 1936, there was a major change which took place with Australia’s coinage. It was decided that all denominations - apart from the sixpence - would be introduced with new reverse designs. These were meant to begin to be produced to coincide with the Edward VIII’s coronation.

Various commonwealth countries around the globe did manage to release coins that included the effigy of Edward VIII in 1936, however, Australia had planned to release these new designs in 1937. When King Edward VIII abdicated suddenly in December of 1936, work on these new coin’s designs ceased and ultimately, no official coins containing the effigy of Edward VIII were released in Australia.

However, an Unofficial Pattern Crown or Fantasy Crown was produced for collectors since these events took place. Although there are various releases for other countries the Australian version of this unofficial Crown, depicts Edward VIII on the obverse and a kangaroo on the reverse.

Traditionally, with each new monarch to feature on a coin, their effigy faces the opposite direction to their predecessor. However, King Edward VIII was breaking form this traditional, demanding that this effigy was to face the same direction as his father King George V. Edward VIII felt that the designs of him facing to the right were not flattering and therefore, at his request, had his effigy on coinage, breaking tradition and facing to the left.

In 1965, the unofficial crown patterns or fantasy crowns with King Edward VIII’s effigy on the obverse were released for sale in the United Kingdom and the United States. The reverse of these pattern crowns were released with 4 different designs, with Australia’s featuring a kangaroo, the United Kingdom’s featuring St. George and Dragon, Ceylon’s featuring an Elephant and Bermuda’s featuring a sailing ship, with all of these fantasy crowns dated 1936. These crowns have a plain edge and were originally produced in very limited numbers. Restirkes of the crown were produced after the accession of Edward VIII but due to popularity, have been restruck in larger numbers.

In 1996, the Tower Mint in London released a further two unofficial Edward VIII crowns dated 1936. One being struck in Copper-Nickel and the other in Gilding, which was a golden bronze. These feature a privy mark below the bust on the obverse which has the dates “20/1/36 – 11/12/36”. These dates represent the very short period of which King Edward VIII reigned, before his abdication.

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