Twelve CaesarsNumismatics, Inc. Description
1994 Kenya 5 Shillings

PCGSSP62

KingsNorton Mint Collection

Exceptionalluster.Sharpstrike. Flashy surfaces.Thisis one of severalrare King\'s Norton MintCollection coins I have listed this week. Mintage figures for thesespecimen/proof coins was not released, but typically there are lessthan 10 examples known, with many being only3-5 examplesknown.

King\'s Norton MintCollection History

Mostcoin collectors are familiar with the activities of the British RoyalMint. They are usually less aware of the important role in supplyingthe world with currency played by the country’s second cityand industrial heart, Birmingham. It has always been a place whereprivate mints thrived. In the early days these tended to be secretiveback street operations where to put it politely they produced coins ofan unofficial nature. In effect Birmingham acted as the forging capitalof the world. Later these undoubted skills were put to more legitimateuse with the formation of private mints run by individuals of greatintegrity. This ability to inspire trust allowed them to attractcommissions from their own and foreign Governments. Between 1790 and1849 the Boulton family operated the Soho Mint. Immediately after itsclosure Ralph Heaton and his sons took over the mantle of running amint which later took the title of the Birmingham Mint. In 1860 JamesWatt & Co. established a mint which coined on and off for thenext twenty years. This firm was hardly newcomers to the trade sincethey were formerly known as Boulton & Watt before they lost theright to use the Boulton name. For the past two centuries theseBirmingham firms have exported mints, minting expertise, coins andblanks. By this accomplishment they have succeeded in making asubstantial contribution to oiling the wheels of the world’scommerce.

Just prior to the First World War a new company entered the fray, theKings Norton Metal Company. In 1912 they were awarded a contract tosupply the Royal Mint with bronze blanks, effectively breaking amonopoly previously held for many years by the Birmingham Mint. Acoinage order quickly followed and in 1914 they struck a coinage forBritish West Africa bearing a K mintmark for Kynoch, the place ofmanufacture. The future of the Company was bright as they joined theBirmingham Mint in the sharing of Royal Mint contracts. These coinswould bear the more familiar KN mintmark for Kings Norton. Mentionshould be made of a few exceptions to this rule. Although theBirmingham and Kings Norton Mint were rivals they were friendly rivalsand at times shared contracts. Taking the coins of Sarawak as anexample the Birmingham Mint dies were dispatched across the city andthe coins even though carrying the famous H mintmark were struck atKings Norton.

In 1926 the Kings Norton Metal Company became part of Imperial ChemicalIndustries (ICI) and in 1962 was reorganized as part of Imperial MetalIndustries Limited (IMI). Two years later a consortium was formed ofthe Royal Mint, Birmingham Mint and Kings Norton Mint to offer forcoining work. This partnership operated well for a number of yearsuntil difficult market conditions rendered it apart. With coinagecontracts difficult to find the three firms went their independentways. In 1992 this culminated in IMI making a hostile takeover of theMint Birmingham Ltd. In terms of minting capacity this was a reversetakeover with the smaller mint taking charge of the larger mint. As aresult of this change IMI closed their own minting facility.

Over the years between 1914 and 1991 the Kings Norton Mint struckcoinages for at least 89 countries ranging alphabetically from Algeriato Zimbabwe. In a geographical sense they exported coins to six of theseven continents only missing out on Antarctica. One suspects that herethey were deterred not so much by the icy wastes, since they countedIceland amongst their clients, but rather by the lack of population!

Like many mints in the world the Kings Norton Mint had a habit ofkeeping a few examples of each coinage they struck as part of theirrecords. In 2005, prior to the disposal of the IMI Archive Collection,I had the pleasure of being asked by IMI to arrange their collectionand to separate and value two specimens of each coin intended forBirmingham Museum & Art Gallery. For a week I was like theproverbial child in a sweet shop as I spent a fascinating timeensconced in a large IMI strong room discovering small packets of coinsin various cupboards and a large safe. I am pleased to report that atthe conclusion of these efforts the coins set aside for BirminghamMuseum & Art Gallery were very generously gifted to them eventhough they were valued at a considerable five figure sum. One canobtain an excellent overview of the content of the Archive Collectionby a study of the holding gifted to Birmingham Museum. It contains ahandful of different patterns and uniface trial pieces but the vastmajority of the coins are what I would describe as being currencyexamples in choice condition where it is obvious that special effortshad been made to include the initial pieces struck from new polisheddies. These pieces are worthy of the description of being calledSPECIMENS. I suspect that this term originated from a previous disposalof a collection belonging to the Birmingham Mint in 1974. These coinswere only marginally inferior to a full blown proof and were ofexceptional quality with tremendous eye appeal. They required a newterm to describe them and help explain why they attracted aconsiderable premium over a normal currency strike. So if you excusethe pun the word SPECIMEN was coined. These Birmingham and Kings NortonMint SPECIMENS illustrate how something as mundane and utilitarian as acoin can be transformed into an object of beauty.

David Vice
Numismatic Researcher

US BUYERS INTERNATIONALBUYERS Shipping&Handling: $5.95whichincludes insurance. Additionallotsship free!

SalesTax:California purchases under $1,500are charged 9.25% salestaxunless aresale certificate is provided.



CANADIANBUYERS
Shipping&Handling: Starts at $13.95whichincludes insurance. Additionallotsship free!

Shipmentsexceeding $1,500 invalue must be shipped byRegistered/ Express Mail (my choice) at a cost of $37.95 READ FULLY BEFOREofferDING.

Shipping&Handling: All internationalshipments (except to Canada) use the Global Shipping Program. Lotsnot available to shipment through this program will range in shippingcost from $17.95 to $84.95 depending on where it is being shipped andits value.

Payment PolicyInformation Iaccept PayPal. If you donot have a PayPal account and wish to pay using another method,pleasecontact me. I cannot accept direct credit card paymentsother than through PayPal.

PayPal payment is expected within 7 days of sale closing. The system will automatically open an Unpaid Item Case if payment is notrecorded by their system within 8 days of sale closing. buyers whowait to pay until after an Unpaid Item Case is opened will be blockedfrom offerding on my future sales.

ShippingAddress: I onlyship to the address listed in the PayPal payment. Please do not ask meto ship to another address. If it\'s not the address listed in thePayPal payment, then I will not ship to that address.

Please do not email me after the sale has ended, asking that Icancel the sale because you: entered an incorrect offer amount; realizedyou already had an example; realized you also live in California and Icharge sales tax; failed to read the S&H terms where I requireRegistered/Express mail for certain shipments; stepped away from yourcomputer and your cat placed aoffer; etc. These requests will be ignored and I will let the UnpaidItem system deal with you. Partial Refunds:Ido notgivepartial refunds onitems purchased. If you are not happy withanitem, feel free to return it, but I will not make a partialrefund so that you won\'t return the item.Asking forapartialrefund is in very poor form and it will get you blocked from offerding inmy future sales.

SlabScratches & Chips: Slabsare fragile and can scratch and chip easily. If a slab arriveschippedand it was not mentioned in the sale or visible in the picture, youmay return it for a refund, but I will nothave it reholdered foryou oroffer you a discount to keep it.

CustomsDuties:Buyers are responsible for any applicable customs fees,duties, import taxes, etc.

See myAboutMe Page for Contact Info. templette

.