British Coins with 'R' on them for Rawlins does anyone have these? I am condused....

SwK

I am condused.. I would like to know the answer how was it allowed that an engraiver put his initial on a coin?

The shilling below struck at Oxford in 1644 it is on the shoulder




br
j

TwoKopeiki

No idea. Anti-counterfeit measure, perhaps?

RobP

It could be any number of reasons, personal ego being the most likely. I can't see there being a problem with an initial or initials as long as the basic legend was adhered to. Rawlins, Briot and Simon were the 3 most important engravers of this era along with Van Der Dort who commited suicide in 1640. All were commissioned at considerable expense to produce medals and dies for coins as they were the foremost artists of their time in this field. It is not unreasonable that they would sign their work in the same way that an artist would a painting.

Gazza

To this day the designers initials still appear on British coins. One exception was the Churchill Crown, it was considered that the initials distracted from the look of Churchills head. The Royal Mint musiem has a prototype with the initials on the back of Churchills neck.