Martin Coles Harman purchased Lundy Island in 1925 and almost immediately set about issuing his own currency — a direct challenge to the Crown's monopoly on coinage. The 1929 Puffin issues landed him in court under the Coinage Act 1870, resulting in a fine of five pounds plus costs. This aluminium piece is an obverse trial from that original production run, predating the legal fallout and representing the working phase before Harman committed to a struck circulation issue.
Martin Coles Harman purchased Lundy Island in 1925 and almost immediately set about issuing his own currency — a direct challenge to the Crown's monopoly on coinage. The 1929 Puffin issues landed him in court under the Coinage Act 1870, resulting in a fine of five pounds plus costs. This aluminium piece is an obverse trial from that original production run, predating the legal fallout and representing the working phase before Harman committed to a struck circulation issue.