Precious Coins

Sir: Regarding “Edward VIII’S Coins” (“Post Box”, Winter 2016) the correspondent correctly stated that coins in the name of this king were issued “in certain parts of the former British Empire”. The other currencies were: Fiji, New Guinea and British West Africa. All of these issues carry Edward’s name and titles, none of them carry his portrait and all have holes in the centre for reasons given in the previous letter.

A few proof sets of British coins were struck and some of the dodecagonal threepenny bits got into circulation. If you own one of these they are now valued at £50,000 each!

In the 1960s a local shopkeeper drew my attention to a shilling which had been passed over his counter to make a purchase. Although very worn it could still be identified as a coin of King Charles II (1660-1685). It had long ceased to be legal tender, but was still doing the rounds as currency. — DAVID A. MOSLEY,

KEIGHLEY, YORKSHIRE.