Guernsey ½ new penny 1971

The coin's story

This half new penny is the smallest coin of Guernsey's decimal coinage, introduced in 1971. That year the island, along with the rest of the British Isles, abandoned the old system of the pound divided into 20 shillings of 12 pence, and the pound was henceforth divided into 100 pence. The 5, 10 and 50 new pence coins had already been circulating since 1968 and 1969, in 1971 the small denominations of ½, 1 and 2 new pence were added, replacing the old pence and the doubles, the island's own coinage since 1830. The halfpenny was thus worth 1.2 old pence. Unlike the other denominations, its reverse bears no animal or plant, only the value and the date, in a design engraved by Paul Vincze. The obverse keeps the seal of the Bailiwick with the three leopards, which dates back to 1279 and King Edward I.