Guernsey 8 doubles 1949 - 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 type, struck from 1914 to 1949 under George V and then George VI, takes up the design of the nineteenth-century coins: the arms of the island and the value, each within a laurel wreath. The coins were made by the private Heaton mint in Birmingham, whose letter H appears below the date. 1949 is the last year of this type: a few years after the end of the German occupation of the Channel Islands (1940-1945), these are the last 8 doubles coins struck with this design. In 1956 the denomination received new designs, with the seal of the Bailiwick and the Guernsey lily. The doubles disappeared with decimalisation in 1971.