Guernsey 4 doubles 1864 - Coat of arms of the island

The coin's story

Guernsey, a Channel Island attached to the British Crown but close to France, long used French money. In 1830 it adopted its own small copper coinage, the double, in coins of 1, 2, 4 and 8 doubles. The name comes from the French “double denier”, but the coin was in fact worth a liard, and one double was worth 1/80 of a franc. The 8 doubles coin served as the “Guernsey penny”, so the 4 doubles coin was half of it. This bronze type was struck from 1864 to 1911, under Victoria, Edward VII and George V. 1864 is the first year of the type and the most struck, with 213,000 pieces. The French franc remained in use on the island until 1921, when Guernsey adopted a pound equal to the pound sterling. The doubles disappeared with decimalisation in 1971 and are now demonetised.