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1 Puffin - Martin Coles Harman
| Issuer | Lundy |
|---|---|
| Year | 1929 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Unadorned left-facing bust of Martin Coles Harman, proprietor of Lundy Island, rendered in high relief with finely detailed facial features and close-cropped hair. The effigy occupies the central field, surrounded by a continuous beaded border. The circular legend MARTIN · COLES · HARMAN arcs along the upper periphery, while the date 1929 appears in the lower exergual area beneath the truncation. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Martin Coles Harman purchased Lundy Island in 1925 and almost immediately set about running it as a personal fiefdom, issuing these bronze puffins and half-puffins in 1929 as the island's official currency. The British government took a dim view of this. Harman was prosecuted under the Coinage Act 1870 and convicted in 1931, fined £5 plus costs — a verdict that effectively ended Lundy's monetary independence before it had properly begun.
The puffin denomination was pegged at a penny sterling, making the coinage functional rather than merely novelty. Surviving examples saw genuine circulation among the island's small resident population and visiting day-trippers before the conviction rendered them legally untenable.