I've long admired and collected the British silver coins of King George V (1910-1936).  All denominations in the series have some rare dates, many made even more so due to the fact that they were produced during the very difficult years of World War 1 and The Great Depression.  These were times when few had the incentive or wherewithal to put aside better examples to collect.  Possibly the best known coins of the George V series are the Wreath Crowns, struck from 1927 through 1936 (except 1935), and named for the wreath design by George Kruger Gray on the reverse side.  Wreath Crowns were struck for collectors and often given out at Christmas as souvenirs or mementos.  The 1934 Wreath Crown, with only 934 pieces struck, is widely known as the rarest 20th Century British Crown.  But it is another George V Crown struck only in 1935, the Silver Anniversary of the King's reign, that I find the most interesting due to the many types and varieties that exist.  These are sometimes called "Rocking Horse Crowns" because the Art Deco depiction of St. George slaying the dragon by Percy Metcalfe on the reverse somewhat resembles a child's rocking horse.  Some 1935 Crowns are quite common and some varieties are extremely rare but confusion does exist due to a lack of available information.  I hope gathering data from a variety of different sources and putting it down here may help shed some light on these most interesting coins.

The regular 1935 Crown, struck for circulation, has mintage of 715,000 pieces and was produced in .500 silver with edge lettering that is incused (sunken into) the edge surface.  Normal edge lettering reads DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI XXV but errors exist, more on this later.  Some examples, presumably early strikes, can have a somewhat prooflike quality to the surfaces.  The edge lettering on circulation coins was applied in a seperate operation from striking and was done without regard to whether the obverse or reverse side of the coin was facing up.  Only Proof and Specimen coins, where the edge lettering was applied at the time of striking, are oriented so that when the edge lettering is rightside up the obverse side of the coin will also be facing up.

Some Proof issues of the 1935 Crown were also struck.  One of these being the Raised Edge Letter Proof with 2500 examples being struck in Sterling silver and issued in red boxes.  The edge lettering is raised from the surface of the edge and unlike all other 1935 Crowns which have incused lettering.  From my experience, most of the RE Proof or Pattern Crowns have mirror proof fields and frosted portraits and reverse designs which offer varying degrees of contrast or cameo effect.  But some RE Proofs also turn up with full proof surfaces throughout.  Interestingly, these coins are not considered legal tender as by proclamation all legal tender coins with edge lettering were specified to be incusely marked.

RE Proof Crowns were offered by lottery and the mint ended up with far more applicants than the 2500 available coins.  So a number of Specimen Crowns were struck in .500 silver (the exact mintage never disclosed) and these were offered to those not lucky enough to have won a RE Proof.  Specimans have fully prooflike surfaces, incused edge lettering and were also issued in the red boxes.  There are other subtle differences between the Specimen and the circulation strikes.  The incused edge lettering was applied at the time of striking and is superior in quality, the rims appear a bit sharper and the edge surface is also prooflike.  Edge letter orientation for the Specimen is the same as the Proof with the obverse side of the coin facing up when the edge lettering is rightside up.  True Specimens are scarcer than one might think because choice business strikes are sometimes mistakenly offered for sale as Specimens. 

A very limited number of Proofs, in Sterling silver, with incuse edge lettering were struck but no mintage figures are available, to my knowledge.  Some references also list another Sterling Proof with finer incuse edge lettering.  Both are extremely rare and seldom seen.  I originally thought a Crown of this type may have been included in the very rare VIP Proof Sets of 1935 but I've since been told Raised Edge Proof Crowns were used instead.

Thirty Proof Pattern 1935 Crowns were struck in 22 kt gold weighing 47.47 grams each.  Twenty five were issued and five were retained for Museum collections.  The appearence of one of these gorgeous rarities at auction is something of a numismatic event.

Some interesting edge lettering errors occur on both the circulation and RE Proof Crowns.  A small number of the circulation Crowns have the DECUS ET TUTA portion of the edge lettering omitted leaving only MEN ANNO REGNI XXV.  Some few RE Proof issues have the edge wording jumbled in a different sequence which reads: DECUS ANNO REGNI ET TUTAMEN XXV.  Both errors are rare with the latter being so rare that one recently brought 3000 Pounds in auction. 

As mentioned earlier, occasionally circulation coins are encountered that appear somewhat prooflike yet are not Specimens.  The 1st coin pictured is one such coin.  The 3rd image is a true Specimen, encapsulated as SP64 by PCGS, and I believe the difference in the surfaces is apparent.  Please keep in mind it's difficult to photograph a prooflike coin in a plastic slab.  True Specimens are fully prooflike so if there is doubt about a particular coin it's probably safe to assume it's an early circulation strike rather than a Specimen.  Image 2 shows the edge letter orientation of the first coin which confirms it is a circulation strike as the edge lettering is upside down when the obverse side of the coin is facing up.  Rare exceptions may exist but this could best be proven by having such coins certified by a reputable 3rd party grading company rather than making an expensive mistake.  The 4th image is of a Brilliant Raised Edge Proof Crown still in the auction holder. 

The uncirculated 1935 Crowns I've examined all weigh between between 28.2 and 28.4 grams regardless of the type, edge lettering or silver content.  If anyone has uncirculated examples that vary considerably from this weight I would appreciate hearing from you.  The pictures are of coins in my own collection and are for illustrative purposes only.

Have fun with your collecting and please keep an eye out for those interesting 1935 Crown types and varieties.