Coins in movies: the Queen Jane shilling
Greg Chalfin
references in literature; but was there anything about numismatic
references in movies? A really great example of the latter is in the
1985 British movie "Lady Jane", about Lady Jane Grey who, in 1553 at the
age of 15, was queen of England for nine days.
The character of Jane in the movie (played by Helena Bonham Carter) is
very idealistic, and even before becoming queen, she wants to fix
everything that's wrong with England. At one point, she sees a debased
shilling and thinks it's a copper penny. She is appalled when she's
told the copper coin is a shilling, since she believes that a shilling
should be made of silver and should be "worth a shilling". This idea
then becomes a metaphor for all the reforms she wants to happen.
(The numismatic history here is a little innacurate. There were
certainly a lot of debased shillings circulating in 1553, and they
wouldn't have looked very silvery, but no one would have mistaken them
for copper pennies, since England didn't have any copper coins at all in
the sixteenth century. Pennies were then very small debased silver
coins. Also, two years earlier, in 1551, the mint had begun striking
the so-called "fine" (non-debased) shilling of Edward VI. Of course,
these were all hoarded since the debased shillings were still legal
tender. But inspite of technical innacuracies, the movie does manage to
communicate to the average movie-goer something about the problems of a
debased coinage.)
Getting back to the story: after Jane becomes queen, we see a sequence
in the Royal Mint showing a coiner hand-striking silver coins. Then,
one of these coins is presented to her by a mint official, and as she
holds it we see it in extreme close up. It's a Queen Jane shilling!
The movie's art director (or their numismatic technical advisor)
seems to have used the design of the Edward VI fine shilling
(appropriate!), substitued a crowned portrait of a young woman (who
doesn't particularly look like Helena Bonham Carter) and changed the
legend from REX EDWARDUS VI D. G. AGL. FRA. Z. HIB. to REGINA JANE I
D. G. AGL. FRA. Z. HIB. Another mistake here, since the name should be
in Latin (IOHANNA?) and the numeral "I" shouldn't be there, since the
first English monarch to have any particular Christian name was known
during their reign by just the name, without "the First" tacked on. But
even so, that Queen Jane shilling prop is a really interesting fantasy
piece! I wonder how many they made for the movie? And how did they
make them? And where are they now?
As to the possibility of a _real_ Queen Jane shilling, James Mays says,
in "The Splendid Shilling -- A Social History of an Engaging Coin" (page
27): "At various times claims have been put forth that coins were struck
in Jane's name, but these have never been proved and it is generally
agreed by scholars that no coins were issued during her brief reign."
--
Greg
Alan Herbert
>
>A while ago there was some discussion in this newsgroup of numismatic
>references in literature; but was there anything about numismatic
>references in movies? A really great example of the latter is in the
>1985 British movie "Lady Jane", about Lady Jane Grey who, in 1553 at the
>age of 15, was queen of England for nine days.
An interesting commentary. Because it was (and still is) illegal to
portray currency in a movie, (or on TV or in ads in color) the movie
studios had a thriving "mint" which made coins such as you describe, and
printed paper money used to simulate bank notes. These items are highly
collectible, both boy exonumia collectors and movie memorabilia
collectors. I can't put my hands on the reference at the moment, but I
believe the "mint" may have been on Catalina Island.
-
Alan Herbert - Contributing Editor Numismatic News
CTC...@prodigy.com
-Richards,B.
Greg Chalfin <g...@rahul.net> wrote:
>A while ago there was some discussion in this newsgroup of numismatic
>references in literature; but was there anything about numismatic
>references in movies?
The following was posted in rec.collecting some time last summer by
gas...@wuchem.wustl.EDU (Peter Gaspar):
>I very much appreciated Fred Wersan's recent posting regarding a sci-fi
>book in which a standing liberty dime is mentioned. I and my friend Chris
>Carlisle are compiling an annotated bibliography entitled "Numismatics in
>Fiction." Included will be as many books as we can find in which coins,
>medals, bank notes and other numismatic items play a role in the plot. While
>our list has about 75 entries to date, it is surprising how few fictional
>works feature coins or coin collectors as _important_ features. So...... we
>will be grateful for even brief mentions of coins in fiction. Please help
>us out by sending us additional entries. We will acknowledge your help
>in our published version. Please send full tiles, authors, and dates of
>publication to me off list at: GAS...@WUCHEM.BITNET or GAS...@WUCHEM.WUSTL.EDU
>Thanks for your help! Peter Gaspar
I emailed him with some examples that I knew of where coins and banknotes
figured into the plots of books, movies, and TV shows. However, I don't
recall hearing anything else about his project.
In article <3e944j$4p...@usenetp1.news.prodigy.com>,
Alan Herbert <CTC...@prodigy.com> wrote:
>An interesting commentary. Because it was (and still is) illegal to
>portray currency in a movie, (or on TV or in ads in color) the movie
>studios had a thriving "mint" which made coins such as you describe, and
>printed paper money used to simulate bank notes. These items are highly
>collectible, both boy exonumia collectors and movie memorabilia
>collectors. I can't put my hands on the reference at the moment, but I
>believe the "mint" may have been on Catalina Island.
Ever since I saw COMING TO AMERICA with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, I've
wanted to get my hands on one of those Bank of Zamunda 100 pound notes.
Does anyone have any information on how many of these props were made and
whether any of them got out to collectors?
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88 Barth Richards Language is a virus from outer space. 88
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