Stakes in rare King Edward VIII penny snapped up

Shares in a rare coin marking King Edward VIII’s brief reign have been snapped up after it went into fractional ownership.

People were offered the opportunity to buy a stake in the coin for £50.

Collectables platform Showpiece.com has acquired the penny.

Weighing 9.36g and measuring 3.08cm, ownership of the coin has been split into “pieces” or shares.

Sales data released by Showpiece.com on Tuesday revealed that 2,864 of 3,500 available shares had been snapped up by lunchtime, with buyers being from 18 countries.

Dan Carter, co-founder of Showpiece.com said: “We knew sales volumes would be strong based on the number of collectors who had registered interest with us online, but we never expected to sell the majority of shares in the first 24 hours.

“Though the UK has been our strongest market, there’s been huge overseas interest too, particularly from Japan.

“If the current momentum continues then we expect to sell-out all remaining shares in the coming days.”

Fractional ownership gives people an opportunity to have a small stake in a rare or desirable item, such as an artefact or artwork, in a way that is relatively affordable.

In general, people need to be aware that the value of items can go down as well as up.

Experts have suggested the coin’s allure stems from it not having entered public circulation.

The King Edward Penny was due to be issued widely from 1937.

But plans were abandoned following the abdication crisis in 1936, only months into Edward’s reign.

The abdicated Edward VIII became the Duke of Windsor and finally married American divorcee Wallis Simpson while in exile in France in 1937.

In 1978, the penny fetched £25,000, before being sold again in 2019 for £133,000.

The most recent appraisal was for £200,000.

Edward was said to have broken with the tradition of the monarch’s heads facing in opposite directions, because he preferred his left profile.

Other Edward VIII memorabilia items have recently sold for significant sums.

In January 2020, another coin, an Edward VIII gold sovereign, was snapped up for £1 million.

That coin was bought by a private buyer in the UK, having been located by the Royal Mint from a collector.

In October 2021, a letter from Edward VIII hinting at his disenchantment with life as a royal as a young man was sold at auction for £7,117.