The change to a New Zealand currency presented an opportunity for new-look coins. A range of designs were submitted by two English coin designers, Percy Metcalfe and George Kruger Gray. These are some of the designs that were rejected by the Coins Design Committee. Metcalfe's sixpences and the shilling containing a kiwi (second row) appear particularly modern in their simplicity and use of geometric forms.
Some of the designs employed more British than New Zealand iconography. Though Metcalfe's florin (top row, second from left) takes its lead from the New Zealand coat of arms, his sheep's fleece did not suggest New Zealand. Nor would Kruger Gray's two-shilling piece (third row, second from left) with its Union Jack flag and British lion have evoked thoughts of New Zealand, despite the inclusion of Māori koru patterns.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand
Reference:
Allan Sutherland, Numismatic history of New Zealand: history reflected in money and medals. Wellington: New Zealand Numismatic Society, 1961, plate 7.
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