Edward VII ascended the throne on 22nd January 1901 and died of bronchitis on 6th May 1910.
As the Old Head Victorian coins had only been in use for a relatively short time, as few changes as possible were made. George de Saulles designed the various new obverses that were required, which differ mainly in the inscription used. The addition of OMN after BRITT (OMN being short for the Latin omnium meaning all) was used to indicate all Britons wherever they were, thus acknowledging the various Dominions that had been created in recent years of which Australia was the most recent example.
The portrait of the King was derived from a drawing by the court painter, Emil Fuchs. The reverses of the gold coins remained exactly as for Victoria. The reverse of the crown was unchanged (but only issued in 1902) and that of the sixpence only in that a Tudor crown replaced the crown of St.Edward the confessor. The half-crown retained an armorial shield but of a more rounded style, while the florin had an entirely new reverse with Britannia standing on the foredeck of a Roman galley. The main reason for this was to avoid confusion with the halfcrown.
The reverse of the shilling used a lion on crown motif similar to that used in 1825.
THe copper coinage used reverses very similar to those on the 1895-1901 issues of Victoria. A third-farthing for use in Malta was only issued in 1902
See my Coins Index page for acknowledgements.
Next Reign - George V
Coins of UK - Edward VII
Copyright reserved by the author, Tony Clayton
v2 17th May 2015