Guernsey 1 new penny 1971 - Gannet

The coin's story

This one new penny coin dates from the very year Guernsey changed to the decimal system. In 1971 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. The new penny was thus worth 2.4 old pence, and it also replaced the doubles, the island's own coinage since 1830. Its reverse, engraved by Paul Vincze, shows a gannet in flight. The obverse keeps the seal of the Bailiwick with the three leopards, which dates back to 1279 and King Edward I. The word NEW was dropped from the inscriptions in 1977, but the gannet remained on the one penny coin.