Guernsey 8 doubles 1864 - Coat of arms in a laurel wreath

The coin's story

The double had been Guernsey's own coinage since 1830, with a system of its own: 8 doubles were worth one Guernsey penny, and 12 pence one shilling. This 8 doubles coin was therefore worth one penny, or one two-hundred-and-fortieth of a pound. The first 8 doubles coins, of 1834 and 1858, were large copper coins of about 20 grams. The 1864 type, struck under Queen Victoria, is in bronze and half as heavy, at under 10 grams, but keeps the same design: the arms of the island and the value, each within a laurel wreath. 1864 is the first year of this type, and its largest issue with 280,000 pieces. The design was then struck again until 1911, under Victoria, Edward VII and George V, often by the private Heaton mint in Birmingham, whose letter H appears below the date from 1885. None of these coins bears a royal portrait: only the arms of the island appear.