Guernsey 8 doubles 1959 - Guernsey Lily

The coin's story

The double was the unit of Guernsey's own small change. Until the early nineteenth century, the island mainly used French money, from 1830 it struck its own copper coins, the doubles, with a system of its own: 8 doubles were worth one Guernsey penny, and 12 pence one shilling. This 8 doubles coin, the largest of the series, was therefore worth one penny, or one two-hundred-and-fortieth of a pound. The 1956 type renewed the designs: the reverse, engraved by Paul Vincze, shows three Guernsey lilies (Nerine sarniensis), the emblematic flower of the island, while the obverse takes up the seal of the Bailiwick, which dates back to 1279 and King Edward I. The threepence with the cow, which shares this obverse, appeared the same year. The doubles disappeared with decimalisation in 1971.