Posts Tagged ‘issued 1929’

The date was March 5th, 1930. Martin Coles Harman, self proclaimed king of Lundy Island, is charged with violating section 5 of the British Coinage Act of 1870. Harman lost that case, but that is not the end of the story of Lundy or it’s popular (if not official) coinage series.

The history of Lundy Island begins in Neolithic times, when the first settlers reached Lundy. Years later, 5th-6th century inhabitants leave inscribed stones, assuring Lundy’s place in history. For the next 1500 years, Lundy Island would be controlled by the Knights Templar, several British kings, William de Marisco, numerous pirates and privateers, wealthy British subjects and officials, businessmen, millionaires and a conservation group.

The modern history of Lundy begins in 1748, when member of parliament Thomas Benson leased the island from Lord Gower at a rate of £60 per year. Benson’s interest in Lundy was proven to be nefarious when he used the island to hide huge shipments of tobacco to avoid customs payments, which was considered smuggling. Perhaps the worst offense, however, was committed when Benson secured a contract to transport convicts to Virginia, but instead of embarking on a long and expensive sea voyage, he took the prisoners to Lundy, where they essentially became his slaves. To make matters worse, Benson kept the remaining funds granted to him by the contract, despite transporting the convicts just a few miles.

In 1752, Benson devised his most ambitious crime against the Crown. In deep trouble from the British authorities for continually smuggling tobacco into Lundy without paying customs taxes, Benson had his men purposely set a brigantine from his fleet on fire to claim the insurance money. Rather than be convicted of insurance fraud, he allowed his captain -an honorable man by the name of John Lancey- to take the fall for the crime. Given the choice to secure his freedom by pointing to Benson as the mastermind behind the scheme or face the judge, Lancey opted not to implicate his former employer. He was hanged on June 7th, 1754 at age 27.

Still in trouble with England, Benson fled to Portugal, where he remained (except for a brief period in which he fled to Spain when his extradition was called for) until his death in 1772 at age 64.

Yet another scofflaw to own Lundy was William Hudson Heaven, who purchased the island in 1834 as a hunting retreat. Like so many others have done, Heaven proclaimed Lundy a free island. The family’s finances soon deteriorated, however, and by the time Heaven’s grand-nephew had inherited the island (Heaven left it to his son, who in turn left it to his nephew), the Heaven family’s economic condition had further soured. Lundy was sold to Augustus Langham Christie in 1917. Christie owned the island until 1925, when it was sold for £16,000 to a wealthy financier named Martin Coles Harman.

The time that the Harman family owned Lundy is most interesting period to numismatists (and philatelists, as stamps were also issued by Harman beginning in 1929), as this was the only time that coins were actually minted exclusively for use on the island. The coins, denominated in puffins and half-puffins were equivalent in value to the British Pennies and half-Pennies respectively, were issued in 1929. Both coins featured Harman’s profile on the obverse, along with the words, “MARTIN · COLES · HARMAN” and the date. The one puffin pieces depict a full-body view of a puffin standing on a rock along with the denomination, while the half-puffin features a partial view of the puffin from the chest up along with the denomination. The depiction of a whole puffin on the one puffin coin and half of a puffin on the half-puffin coin is probably not an accident but a deliberate play on words. Both pieces also feature a lettered edge with the words, “LUNDY LIGHTS AND LEADS”. Both the one and half-puffin were minted in bronze and were struck in Birmingham, England by the Heaton’s Mint. Each denomination has a mintage of 50,000.

A second series of coins was issued to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Harman family ownership of Lundy Island in 1965. This time they weren’t meant as a medium of exchange. These pieces were struck for collectors, Lundy inhabitants and as presentation sets. They bear the same design and denominations as the 1929 issues, but were struck in bronze, nickel-brass and gold. They boast a total of 3,000 each for the base metal pieces, and 50 each for the gold pieces.

Pattern pieces also exist. They can be distinguished from the regular 1929 issues by a thicker flan and by the fact that they have no edge lettering.

After Martin Cole Harman’s death in 1954, his son, Albion P. Harman, inherited the island. Lundy Island was put up for sale shortly after Albion’s death in 1968. It was then purchased for £150,000 by a British millionaire named Jack Hayward, who gave it to the National Trust in 1969. The National Trust then leased it to the Landmark Trust. Lundy is now a popular tourist spot. Popular activities include nature walks and rock climbing. Cottages are rented by the Landmark Trust company.

The coins of Lundy Island, though few, make a very interesting base metal type set at a pretty affordable price. All but the gold and pattern issues are valued at under $20 each (that is, in MS or AU for the 1929 issues, and proof for the 1965 issues), which means a set of base metal issues can be obtained for about $100 (there are 6 issues, and some are valued at anywhere from $10-$15.) The Lundy Island coins are unmatched in design among the coinage of unrecognized countries/states, and they are an extremely interesting (but short-lived) series when you take into consideration the history of Lundy Island, it’s most eccentric resident, Martin Coles Harman, and it’s most famous inhabitant, the puffin.

By RHM22 Member CHF #169

October 19, 2009