British New Guinea

WillieBoyd2

British New Guinea

British New Guinea coins all had holes in them so that the residents
oould thread cords through the holes and carry coins without using purses.


British New Guinea Six Pence 1935 - George V
The scripted "GRI" is "Georgius Rex Imperator"


British New Guinea Shilling 1935 - George V


British New Guinea Penny 1936 - Edward VIII

One of the few coins issued for the "King for a Year".
They didn't need his portrait for the coin because of the hole.
The scripted "ERI" is "Edwardus Rex Imperator".


British New Guinea Shilling 1938 - George VI


British New Guinea Penny 1944 - George VI


British New Guinea Three Pence 1944 - George VI


British New Guinea Six Pence 1943 - George VI


British New Guinea Shilling 1945 - George VI

I suspect that the silver shillings in nice shape were brought to Australia or
the US by servicemen returning from World War II.

mnemtsas2

All very nice!

Sapyx

Calling it "British New Guinea" might help distinguish it from the earlier issues for the same territory under German administration, and the heading in Krause is "British Administration", but it's actually a bit of a misnomer. New Guinea was administered by Australia; that's the seven-pointed Australian Star of Federation at the bottom of the obverse of the shilling. The coins were struck in the Melbourne mint.

The "flagship" rarities of New Guinea Territory coinage are of course the penny and halfpenny of 1929. These coins were struck for circulation but the entire shipment was withdrawn and sent back to Melbourne shortly before their planned issue because the dimwitted Australian bureaucrats that designed them failed to realize that making them the exact same size as (Australian) shillings and sixpences would make the acceptability of rolled coins impossible. For large sums of money, the natives of New Guinea mistrusted paper money and refused to be paid in it - an attitude that would cost them dearly once the Japanese arrived with their JIM notes. But it did mean that many everyday transactions in the Territory were conducted using rolled coins. But if pennies and shillings were identical in size, no roll of shillings could ever be trusted to contain only shillings, and every roll would have to be busted open, inspected, and re-wrapped, every time. The economy would have slowed to a crawl. The colonial Administrator realised this, and therefore refused to issue them.

The Melbourne mint eventually melted down most of the 1929 series coins but in 1934, 400 pairs of pennies and halfpennies were sold as souvenirs to collectors and mint visitors at a price of a shilling a pair. These 400 pieces (plus two or three halfpennies that apparently went missing in New Guinea) were the only survivors from the melting pot. This effectively makes the 1929 coins NCLT.

The design of the 1929 penny was eventually recycled, with a few modifications such as adding the star, as the design for the New Guinea shillings.

newsman

<< <i>I suspect that the silver shillings in nice shape were brought to Australia or
the US by servicemen returning from World War II. >>



Yep. I've got a couple of those from my grandfather, who fought there.