UNLUCKY HALF-CROWN

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3468, 19 May 1934, Page 5

UNLUCKY HALF-CROWN

COIN WITH A HISTORY. A 1914 half-crown which led to an action for alleged slander, and was described by the judge as “an historic coin,” was handed by him to the police on March 14 in a London court. “There you are,” the judge said to a police sergeant. “You take this coin and do what you think is proper with it. If you think it ought :o be given back to the plaintiff, give it back to him. He may want to bore a hole through it and make a memento of it. If you care to hand it to the defendant you may do so.” Judgment, with costs, was given for the London Passenger Transport Board in the action brought against them by Mr H. W. Walker, a- dental mechanic. Mr Walker was a passenger on an omnibus, and tendered a 1914 half-crown for a twopenny fare. His case was that the conductor declared in a loud voice. “It is counterfeit.” The coin, was tested at a bank en route, and a bank clerk supported the conductor’s view. At liford Broadway the conductor approached a policeman, with the result that Mr Walker went to the police station and had his name and address taken. He handed over the balance of the change—2s 4d. The defence was a denial that the words were uttered or that they bore the meaning alleged by Mr Walker. It was stated that the coin, which was a particularly bright one and had not been in circulation, was now agreed to be a genuine one.

Mr Justice Charles, in summingup, said that at the bank the two experts seemed to have said the coin was a “dud” one. Then they went to the policeman, who also thought it was a “ dud.” “So now you have an army of them,” said the judge, “and I have seen no one from the Mint tc say it is not a ‘dud’ coin. “There was the conductor, ivho had formed his own opinion, the two clerks and the policeman. You may think that a conductor who has to handle a good deal of money has to be careful. This poor old coin hasn’t got a single lover in the world at all.”