Week Twenty One

Coin of the Week: Edward VIII Coins
King Edward VIII (the 8th) of England had the shortest reign of and British monarch. He was king from January 20th, 1936 to December 11th, 1936. Not even one full year! But the coins of England always feature the current monarch. So first, there were his coronation medals:

And then there were the patterns. Edward insisted that his portrait face left, like his father, George V. This was a break in the pattern: ever new monarch’s portrait would face the opposite direction as the previous one. But Edward was adamant. So the dies were prepared… but the people were not…

…ready for him to suddenly leave! Edward had fallen in love with an American 2-time divorcee named Wallis Simpson. Knowing that the church of England would not allow the king to marry a woman with two living ex-husbands, he abdicated, or gave up, the throne. He had ruled for 326 days. He later became governor of the Bahamas. After that, he was accused of being pro-Nazi during WWII, and spent the remainder of his life in France.

Rooting Through the Lost Art: Pennsylvania Quarter

First; the original

And now the ideas:

Wonderful World: Cook Islands Chocolate Bar Coin
Earlier this year, the Cook Islands released a special $5 coin. It contains one ounce of pure silver, is a rectangle, and- wait for it- looks and smells just like a chocolate bar! Produced by an unidentified mint, this coin is prepared with a special perfume, and comes in a package that looks like a candy wrapper. Want one? The best deal that I could find was on Talisman Coins, for $109.95. Sweet!