SHORT IN ENGLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 55, 2 September 1937, Page 8

SHORT IN ENGLAND

NEW THREEPENNY BITS

Issues of the 12-sided threepenny pieces, authorised by the Royal Proclamation of March 18. have been made for some months past, and the. total quantity despatched to the bank, etc., by the Royal Mint now amounts to £250.000, or 20,000,000 pieces, said the "Daily Telegraph" recently.*1 \ - There is no foundation for rumours that these threepenny pieces are to'be withdrawn.' " ; , . Their scarcity in circulation is attributable to the probability that many are retained as novelties and to the fact that large numbers of ; any denomination are required to facilitate free currency. . . . Issues are being continued as fast as possible. : The small silver threepence will, however, still be available for districts where this piece is in accustomed use.

The colour and shape of the new piece ensure that it cannot be mistaken for any other" coin. Its unusUal thickness was found to be necessary to ensure that it could not be inserted iathe slots of coin-operated machines intended for sixpences and shillings.

The design of the reverse of the coin has generally been attributed by the Press to Miss Kitchener. The. deputy master of the Mint and Miss Kitchener desire it to be.known that although the idea of the "thrift" motif was Miss Kitchener's, and models were executed by her from which dies for experimental "patterns" of the piece were prepared, the design on the actual coin was an adaptation of her work'adopted for technical Considerations associated with the "dumpiness" of the piece which had not, in the first place, been contemplated. . .' Miss F. M. Kitchener is ft niece of the late Earl Kitchener.