Guernsey 10 new pence 1968 - Guernsey Cow

The coin's story

This 10 new pence coin is one of the first decimal coins of Guernsey. As in the United Kingdom, the island put the 5 and 10 new pence coins into circulation as early as 1968, three years before the official changeover to the decimal system in 1971: they had the same value as the old shilling and florin and could therefore circulate alongside them during the transition. The 50 new pence coin followed in 1969. The reverse, engraved by Paul Vincze, takes up the Guernsey cow, already on the threepence since 1956. The obverse keeps the seal of the Bailiwick with the three leopards, unchanged since the last pre-decimal coins. The word NEW was dropped from the inscriptions in 1977, and the cow remained on the 10 pence coin until 1984. The Guernsey pound is not, in fact, a separate currency but a local issue of the pound sterling, at par with it since 1921.