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Saturday 22 December 2018

878) The Brixton Pound, UK: Modern world's first novel Urban Local Currency, that circulates parallel to the British Pound in this district of South London:

878) The Brixton Pound, UK: Modern world's first novel Urban Local Currency, that circulates parallel to the British Pound in this district of South London:

Brixton is a district of South London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of the 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton is mainly residential, with a prominent street market and substantial retail sector. It is a multi-ethnic community, with a large percentage of its population of Afro-Caribbean descent. 

What is the "Brixton Pound"?

The Brixton Pound was conceived in 2009 as the modern  world's first urban local currency in the United Kingdom  for the purpose of supporting local businesses and encouraging local trade and production.

The Brixton Pound was first introduced at Transition Town Brixton's "Local Economy Day" on 19.06.2008. It was then launched on 17.09.2009 by Transition Town Brixton.

The first trading day of the Brixton Pound was on 18.09.2009 with 80 local businesses accepting the currency.

On 29.09.2011, the Brixton Pound launched an electronic version of the currency where users can pay by text messages. The Brixton Pound can also be withdrawn from a dedicated ATM.

Brixton has several characteristics which have helped it pioneer an urban local currency in the UK:

- A famous local economy with a diverse high street and local market

- A strong community spirit and rich mixture of culture and backgrounds

- A history of revolution, activism, change, dynamic people and attracting the "Avant-garde" in several spheres of activity.

With this objective/background in mind, four denominations - 1, 5, 10 and 20 "Brixton Pounds" are since circulating alongside the UK Pound without "replacing" it (more like a "local parallel currency").

The Brixton Banknotes are accepted at over 250 local merchant establishments and their acceptability/popularity is growing every passing day. Since these Banknotes circulate within the community, they provide the local businessmen and customers an opportunity to support one another. 

Interestingly, all these Banknotes contain several security features such as water marked paper obtained from security paper printers, customised holograms, embossed numbering and UV light illustrations. 

The Brixton Pound Banknotes are extremely popular with the local businesses and users, particularly as they depict/showcase local personalities who have become popular, some of them on the International stage, of which the Brixton residents are extremely proud of. Interestingly, the people of Brixton featuring on the First & Second edition of Brixton Pound Banknotes were voted for by the people of Brixton. In addition, these Banknotes celebrate Brixton's history, art, politics and culture.

On the environmental aspects, the Brixton Pound supports local businesses in sourcing more goods and services locally, thereby reducing the carbon footprint


The Brixton Pound encourages the local community to think about where their money is going and how it is benefitting the local economy and commit to spending a proportion of it locally.

In other words, the experiment has been extremely successful.

The Brixton Pound Mission:

The Brixton Pound aims at the following objectives:

- Support and build diversity and resilience in the local Brixton economy in the light of difficult economic times and chain store power

- Raise community awareness of the local social economy

- Encourage and facilitate a self-help model and ethos in order to protect the social and financial futures of the residents of Brixton

- Encourage local sourcing of goods to decrease CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) emissions

- Raise Brixton's profile regionally and nationally and contribute to positive perceptions of Brixton by drawing attention to its strong community, diverse economy and capacity for innovation.

Other local currencies in circulation in the UK:

The Brixton Pound is one of several local currencies that are prevalent in the UK and was the first in an urban setting. The other places where local currencies are in circulation in the UK include (in alphabetical order) - Bristol, Cardiff, Cornwall, Exeter, Kingston, Lewes, Liverpool, Plymouth, Stroud, Totnes and Worcester. Some other areas which are in the process of developing local currencies include - Hackney and Oxford.

A similar currency from World War I Germany (1914-1918):

I am reminded at this juncture of World War I, when Germany found itself in extremely short supply of money  during the War and there was rampant hoarding of gold and silver coins, even across the countries of the world involved in the war effort.

Paper currency hoarding too added to the shortage of money in circulation. Eventually to overcome this problem, the State Bank of Germany the "Reichsbank" permitted towns, villages and municipalities to issue their own currency. These old Banknotes have over the years acquired a lot of collector interest. Interestingly, apart from metal issues, the banknotes were usually made of paper. Occasionally, the currency was issued in the form of card, silk, linen, jute, chamois leather, leather, aluminium foil, envelopes, velvet, playing cards, compressed coal dust etc. Most of these banknotes have the name of the town mentioned on them.

Some places issued a "Series (sets)  of Banknotes" which were beautiful, humorous and whimsical and conveyed a sense of hope and stoic optimism designed to take the minds of the users away from the miseries of the War they had gone through. The variety and beauty of these Banknotes made them a desirable commodity. Collectors collected them in sets which narrated stories and legends, which in turn, led to the production of many different issues and designs. Even today, collectors are on the look-out for entire series which narrate these stories.

T
he Brixton Pound Banknote issues have already  become collector's items like these local German currency issues !!!

The individual Brixton Banknotes:

The second Edition Banknotes:

The second edition Banknotes were designed by Charlie Waterhouse and Clive Paul Russell of the local design agency - "This Ain't Rock'n Roll". All the Banknote designs were inspired by the iconic Coldharbour Lane Barrier Block and other Brixton influenced features such as - the Stockwell Skatepark, public art on Electric Avenue, Nuclear Dawn )one of Brixton's murals) and the Stirling Prize winning Evelyn Grace Academy:

The Front of the 10 Pounds Brixton Banknote depicts a portrait of David Bowie.

The Front features Duffy's iconic photograph of David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust guise from the cover of Aladdin Sane.

David Bowie (1947-2016): When David Bowie passed away on 10.01.2016, a total of 44,037 fans sent a petition  to the Bank of England (BOE) requesting the Bank to bring out a Banknote with the legendary Rock Star on its next issue of a 20 Pound Banknote.

David Bowie, in 2002, was voted 29th on a popularity list of 100 greatest Britons. However, BOE did not accede to the request and instead the Bank's 20 Pound Banknote scheduled to be released in 2020 will feature an image of JMW Turner instead.

Nevertheless, in 2011 itself, while Bowie was still alive, he has been depicted on the 10 Pound Brixton Pound Banknote, which is more popular than any BOE issue of the same denomination.

The English musician, actor, record producer and arranger was born in Brixton. He and his family lived at 40, Stansfield Road, Brixton from 1947-1953.

He was a major figure and pioneer for over four decades in the world of music. Bowie sold over 140 million albums world-wide.

The Back of the 10 Brixton Pound Banknote is inspired by detailing from the "Nuclear Dawn" mural on Coldharbour Lane during the peak of the Cold War.

On the Front of the 20 Brixton Pound Banknote is a portrait of Violette Szabo.

Violette Szabo, GC, MBE (1921-1945): She was a Second World war British Secret Agent. Born in Paris, she moved to London with her family and attended school and later also worked in the Bon Marche department store in Brixton. She was involved in several dangerous missions in France during the War, depicted in the 1958 film "Carve Her Name with Pride". She paid the ultimate price for her heroism.

The Back of the 20 Brixton Pound Banknote is inspired by the public street art from Electric Avenue - "Foxes & Cherries" by Lucy Casson and "Brixton Speaks" by Will Self.


The Front of the Five Brixton Pound Banknote depicts Luol Deng .

Luol Deng (born 1985): He is a professional basket-ball player for the GB National Basketball  team and the NBA's Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat.

Born in South Sudan, Deng emigrated as a child and moved with his family to Brixton. There he joined England's 15-and-under basketball team at Brixton Basketball Club, marking the beginning of his basketball career.


The Back of the Five Pound Brixton Banknote is inspired by the Evelyn Grace Academy and features the detailing from the Nuclear Dawn mural on Coldharbour Lane painted in 1983 during the peak of the Cold War.


The Front of the One  Brixton Pound Banknote features Len Garrison.

Len Garrison (13.06.1943-18.02.2003): Lanford Alphonso (Kwesi) Garrison was an educationist, community activist and historian whose life's work was to catalogue the development of the black British identity and its history and promote the works of yougn black writers. 

To this end, he set up ACER and co-founded the "Black Cultural Archives". 

The Back of the One Brixton Pound Banknote

The folder in which the second edition Brixton Pound Banknotes are being retailed, together with a collage of the second edition Banknotes

First Edition Banknotes:

Many Brixton people contributed to the first Edition Banknotes, which were designed by Rob Adderley. The background images on the Front of the Banknotes are taken from Lambeth Archives. The illustrations along the bottom of the Banknotes were designed by Ceri Buck of the Invisible Food Project and they glow under UV light.

The designs on the Back of the Banknotes feature engravings by Staffan Gnosspelius of the market and other Brixton scenes. Hannah Lewis of The Remarkery was in charge of overseeing the design process along with other contributors to the process.


The Front of one Brixton Pound Banknote depicts Olive Morris.

Olive Morris (1952-1979): He was a British Community leader and activist in the Feminist, Black Nationalist and Squatter's Rights campaigns of the 1970s.

Olive was born in Jamaica in 1952 and moved with her family to Britain at the age of nine. She was a Brixton resident from 1961-1975 and passed away at the age of 27 from cancer. This image is from the "Remember Olive Morris Project".

The Back of the One Pound Brixton Banknote


On the Front of the Five Pounds Brixton Banknote is seen an image of James Lovelock.

James  Lovelock CH, CBE, FRS ( born 1919 ): He is an independent scientist and environmentalist who, whilst working for NASA, first developed the Gaia hypothesis, proposing that the earth is in a delicate but dynamic steady-state that human activity is disturbing, in particular, through global warming. Lovelock was a Brixton resident from 1925 - 1933. This image was provided by James Lovelock himself.

The Back of the Five Brixton Pound Banknote

The Front of the Ten Pound Banknote shows an image of C.L.R. James.

C.L.R.James (1901-1989): He was a Trinidadian journalist, historian, socialist thinker and anti-colonialist who chose to spend his final years on the "front line" of Brixton. 

This photograph of James has been given by photographer Steve Pyke.

The Back of the Ten Pounds Banknote.



On the Back of the Twenty Pound Brixton Banknote is seen a portrait of Vincent Van Gogh.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890): He was a painter of International repute, who moved to Brixton at the age of 20, reportedly returning to Holland a changed man, having seen first hand the impacts of poverty on his daily walk from Brixton to Covent Garden.

The Back of the Twenty Brixton Pound Banknote

A Commemorative Banknote issued in 2015:

To celebrate the Brixton Pound's fifth anniversary, the Turner Prize (2004) winning artist Jeremy Deller was commissioned to design a limited edition Five Brixton Pound Banknote. This special edition Brixton Commemorative Banknote was produced in collaboration with Fraser Muggeridge Studios.

This Commemorative Banknote which has been described as "psychedelic and political", reflects on how one understands, uses and values money in the time of economic instability and what one could aspire to in the future.


On the Front of the Five Brixton Pound Commemorative Banknote featured bright psychedelic colours.


On the Back of the Five Brixton Pound Commemorative Banknote is a quotation from Karl Marx's "Das Capital":

"Capital is money, capital is commodities …… By virtue of it being value, it has acquired the occult ability to add value to itself. It brings forth living offspring, or, at the least, lay the golden eggs".

The Folder in which the First edition Brixton Pound Banknotes are being retailed, together with an image of the four denominations of Brixton Pound Banknotes










Links to some other interesting posts from the British Isles and British Overseas Territories:


Central Bank of Ireland issues:

1) Jonathan Swift: 350th Birth Anniversary 15 Euro Silver Proof coin features his most famous work "Gulliver's Travels" : Coin issued on 30.11.2017

2) Ireland: Women's right to Vote - 100th Year Anniversary : A Silver 15 Euro Proof Collector Coin issued by the Central Bank of Ireland on 27.11.2018

Northern Ireland Bank issues:

1) Northern Ireland Polymer Bank Issues: Danske Bank (10 Pounds Polymer Banknotes), Bank of Ireland (5 & 10 Pound Polymer Banknotes) to go into circulation in 2020/21


6) Jane Austen: features on the second circulating Polymer Banknote of 10 Pounds denomination to be released on 14.09.2017

Inspirations from Scottish History (Clydesdale Bank Banknotes): 

1) The Legend of King Bruce & the Spider on Banknotes
  
2) Commemorating Sir William Arrol and his creation the Forth Rail Bridge by issues of Britain's first ever 5 Pound Polymer Banknote

Banknotes from Bank of Scotland:



British Crown Dependencies:

1) Specimen Banknotes from the States of Jersey

2) Coinage and Currency from the States of Jersey

3) Currency & Coinage of the Bailiwick of Guernsey

4) Currency & Coinage of Gibraltar : An Overseas Territory of Great Britain

5) Coinage of Gibraltar: (A British Overseas Territory): An Uncirculated Decimal Coin Collection Set minted by the Tower Mint, UK in 2010
  
6) The Isle of Man: An Uncirculated Decimal Coin Collection Set minted by Pobjoy Mint, UK in 2015

7) The Centenary of the ill-fated Titanic (15.04.1912 - 15.04.2012): An Alderney Five Pound Coin Commemorating the Maritime Legend

8) "Man of Steel": A Superman Movie: A set of stamps brought out in 2013 by Jersey post, the States of Jersey, commemorating Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill who played Superman in the Movie

9) Coins & Currency of Bermuda

10) The Bailiwick of Jersey - Presently circulating coinage - Pounds and Pence 

11) St. Helena & Ascension Islands: An Uncirculated Coin Set from 2003 

12) The Legend of the "HMAV Bounty" is interwoven with the heritage of the Pitcairn Islands: An uncirculated coin set from Pitcairn Islands in 2009 depicting the icons/relics of the Bounty minted by the New Zealand Mint

13) Currency of the Falkland Islands: A British Overseas Territory (BOT) Pounds & Pence

14) Falkland Islands Penguins: 50 Pence Coin Series: The first Coin in the Series of four coins: the Rock-Hopper Penguin 

15) Falkland Islands Penguins: 50 Pence Coin Series: The Gentoo Penguin:Second Coin in the series of four coins issued on 20.06.2017 


19) The Isle of Man: A British Crown Dependency (BCD) Coinage: A newly introduced Collector's circulation Currency Coinage Collector's set received from the Tower Mint, London, UK issued in April 2017

20) Pegasus: British Virgin Islands: A gold Bullion Coin of $100 issued by Pobjoy Mint on belalf of British Virgin Islands in July 2018

21) "The Hydra": British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT): A Silver Double Crown (4 Pounds), 2 Oz High Relief Coin with Antique Finish: Third Coin in the Series titled "Mythical Creatures" issued by Pobjoy Mint, UK on behalf of BIOT on 07.08.2018

22) "Medusa The Gorgon": British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT): A Silver Double Crown (4 Pounds), 2 Oz High relief Coin with antique Finish: Fourth Coin in the series titled "Mythical Creatures" issued by Pobjoy Mint UK on behalf of BIOT in 09/2018


The Queen's Beasts Coin Series, UK, issues:



1) Lion of England - First Coin in the Series issued in March 2016



Famous Battles

1) Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon's Exile to St. Helena: (Part I): A One Crown Commemorative coin issued by the Ascension Island (minted by Pobjoy Mint UK) 

2) Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo and Napoleon's Exile to st. Helena: (Part II) 1) A 5 GBP Coin issued by the Royal Mint UK. 2) A"Drie Landen Zilverset" ( ot the "Three Lands Silver set") containing coins issued by the Royal Dutch Mint including coins of Netherlands, Belgium and UK

3) Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain by issuing a 50 Pence coin by the Royal Mint UK

Gold Coins:
  
1) Gold Sovereigns issued in 2013 & 2014 by MMTC-PAMP in India under licence from the Royal Mint, UK, carrying the "I" Mint Mark

2) Gold Half-Sovereigns minted by MMTC-PAMP in India in 2014 under licence from the Royal Mint UK bearing the "I" Mint Mark 

Silver Coins:

1) A 20 Pound Silver coin minted for the first timr by the royal Mint UK: reverse design carries the famous St. George slaying the dragon design found on Gold Sovereigns 

British India Coinage:

 1) East India Company Quarter Anna Copper Coin which is one of the first issues under the Coinage Act 1835

2) Victoria Coinage: When she was Queen and afterwards Empress

3) Edward VII: King & Emperor  Coinage

4) George V King Emperor Coinage

5) George VI: The last of the British India Emperors Coinage 

Other British Royalty: 

1) Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations (1952-2012): A Five Pound Commemorative coin issued by the Royal Mint, UK

2) Commemorating Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation in 1953: A Five Pound Coin minted by the Royal Mint UK in 2013, depicting the Imperial State Crown

3) The Royal Coat of Arms of the UK: Great British 2012 Coin Set (Uncirculated) issued by the Royal Mint UK

4) Prince George's Christening Ceremony celebrated with coins issued by the Royal Mint UK in 2013

5) The British Empire:  A Case of Numismatic "segregation": (Guest Post by Rahul Kumar)

6) 1) The Portrait Collection: Various Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II on Coinage 2) The Fourth & Final Circulating coinage of the Portrait designed by Ian Rank-Broadley and the First Edition of the portrait of the Queen made by Jody Clark

 British Coinage:

1) The contribution of the Great British One-Pound coins in keeping alive the historical legends/emblems/heritage of the UK (1983 onwards)

2) Transformation of a Five shilling Coin (Crown) into the UK Twenty-five Pence & then the Five Pound Coin


4) The 350th Anniversary of the Guinea: A Two Pound Coin issued by the Royal Mint UK celebrating the milestone

5) The new 12-sided One Pound UK Coin introduced into circulation on 28.03.2017

 Commemorative British Coinage:

 1) Commemorating the Bicentenary of Charles Dickens: A Two pound coin celebrating his literary contributions during the Victorian Era

 2) Commemorating 50 Years of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) - presently called the World Wide Fund for Nature by issue of a Fifty Pence coin by the Royal Mint, UK

3) Coins commemorating London Olympics & Paralympics (2012)

4) Commemorating 150 Years of the London Underground : Two pound Coins minted by the Royal Mint UK, showing the "Roundel" logo and a train emerging from a tunnel 

5) Commemorating the 100th Birth anniversary of Christopher Ironside with his " Royal Arms" design on a 50 Pence coin issued by the Royal Mint, UK 




Links: Postage Stamps: 

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