10 Pence - Elizabeth II Jay, Colourised

Guernsey's decimal coinage has been issued independently of the Royal Mint since 1971, when the island adopted its own currency at par with sterling. This particular piece belongs to a run of colourised circulating-denomination issues that Guernsey's mint agent marketed primarily to the collector trade — the colouring applied post-strike means examples that actually circulated shed their finish quickly, making pristine specimens almost exclusively ones that never left packaging.

The Eurasian jay is native to the island's wooded parishes.