Collection update May ’17

This month I will be talking about two small coins which I got as part of a small group of silver coins mainly from Denmark.  The Danish coins themselves date from the early 20th century, and like most Scandinavian coins of that era, their design, in my own personal opinion are something to be desired.  Generally sporting the value of the coin itself whilst displaying the monogram of the current monarch.  A bit lacklustre.  The second coin I want to talk about can easily fit into this category, as the design on the reverse is nothing to write home about, but the bust of the monarch is rather interesting to say the least.  However, I will move on to the first coin, as it has a bit more history attached to it.

Now above is a small silver coin from the city of Hamburg dated 1738.  It is about 17mm in diameter and about 1mm thick.  On the obverse we see the three towered castle which is the coat of arms of the city, whilst on the reverse is the date and value between some branches.  Sadly, sometime during it’s life the coin has been pierced to be worn as jewellery, thankfully it hasn’t marred much of the designs on both sides of the coin.  Even if it does leave a large ugly hole staring glaringly at you.
Hamburg itself is in a unique position within Germany, occupying an area in the north of Germany at the southern point of the Jutland peninsular. The full name of the city is the ‘Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg’, tipping its hat to it’s medieval past and links to the Hanseatic trade league that it was a member of.  For much of Hamburgs existance it was a free city within the Holy Roman Empire, and later German Empire, being a state in it’s own right.  During the middle ages, Hamburg was one of the improtant ports within Europe due to it’s location near the North and Baltic seas, as well as being on the confluence of the rivers Elbe, Alster and Bille.  This was further strengthed by it’s status as a free city.  It was not, in fact, until after the Second World War that Hamburg lost it’s total independence from Germany itself as it was subsumed into the administration of Western Germany during British Occupation in 1949.  Where to this day it has grown to be the second largest city in Germany.

The second coin I mentioned is a silver threepence from the UK from 1819.  Now as I mentioned previously, the design of the coin itself is rather dull, but really I want to talk about the bust of George III displayed.

Now although the coin itself is very worn, and suffering from deep scratches on the face, a clear outline of the bust can be seen.  This bust design is known to collectors as the ‘bull-headed George’.  This was due to the engraver at the time, the Italian Benedetto Pistrucci, being unable to engrave a proper portrait from life due to George being very much insane. This portrait was thus put into use for several years between 1816-1820, and was met with much public hostility from all sectors of society.  One high ranking official in the Houses of Parliament has even been noted to have said ‘send the lot to the provinces so no-one has to see them’.  By this he meant the anywhere that wasn’t London or the south of England.  A view which is still often in use today.  Eventually the design was withdrawn from use, and the mint reverted back to the older ‘Young head’ design of the late 18th century, much to many peoples relief.  George was succeeded by his son George IV in 1820.