1926 Peace crown

As a rarity the uniface Peace Crown of 1926 ranks very high.  During that year the idea of issuing a crown with peace as a theme was mentioned in a speech delivered in the House of Commons by the historian and numismatist Sir Charles Oman and subsequently he actively pursued the idea with officials at the Mint.   The design that was developed of the seated figure of Britannia was drawn by Francis Derwent Wood and modelled by Humphrey Paget and pattern pieces were struck during July 1926. 

 

 

Strangely, the Peace Crown illustrated has not always been in the Royal Mint collection.   It originally belonged to Sir Charles Oman and was given to the Mint by his son in 1974, a very generous gesture that filled a conspicuous gap in the Mint collection, since a specimen of the coin was not retained at the time.   As the idea for the crown gained momentum other designs were considered and the pattern piece shown here was eventually abandoned, making the very few pieces that survive of this beautiful coin of real interest.