PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
Coins struck by the Royal Mint but never put into circulation can have staggering values if they ever come on to the market.
This 1937 pattern penny was made as a trial ahead of Edward Viii’s abdication in December 1936 but never released for circulation.
A set of Edward Viii pattern coins was added to the Royal Collection but the remainder were stored in a safe of the deputy master of the Royal Mint and not rediscovered until his death in 1950.
it was then that a second set of coins was created. some were given to the British Museum and the Royal Mint and a few changed hands with collectors privately.
Edward, then the Duke of Windsor, also asked for a set of “his coins” but his request was declined. The 1937 penny, last sold in 1978, fetched £111,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at London specialist auctioneers spink.
The current world record for a British penny is held by the 1933 coin of Edward Vlli’s father, King George V, which last changed hands in new York in 2016 for the equivalent of £150,000.