Guernsey 1 double 1929 - Coat of Arms

The coin's story

The double was Guernsey's smallest coin. Its name comes from an old French coin, the double tournois, worth two deniers: the island, long turned towards France, mainly used French money until the early nineteenth century. From 1830 Guernsey struck its own doubles, with a system of its own: 8 doubles were worth one Guernsey penny, and 12 pence one shilling, so that a double was worth only one nineteen-hundred-and-twentieth of a pound. In 1921 the island aligned its pound with the pound sterling, but kept its doubles. This 1929 coin, from the reign of George V, was struck by the private Heaton mint in Birmingham, whose letter H appears below the date. This shield type was struck from 1911 to 1938 in small quantities before being replaced, the doubles disappeared with decimalisation in 1971.