Tanner

Bored and under intense female scrutiny I was folding a cardboard box which has lived in the loft for a very long time, the bin men can have it. I noticed something move inside and from under a flap this appeared. Female scrutiny turned to ire as the coin was secreted about my person.

This is the second issue of the sixpence under Queen Elizabeth's reign. For those unfamiliar with the coin, it is worth the equivalent of 2.5p but to a child in 1959 it was worth heaps more. The letters FID DEF are an abbreviation of the Monarch's 'style' or title, "Defender of the Faith," "Fidei Defensor." The coin remained legal tender until 30th June 1980, despite decimilization in 1971, the last coin was struck in 1970. The present 5p coin is almost identical in size.

Brian May, of Queen, has a rather unusual plectrum, he uses a sixpence as he finds a normal plectrum too flexible. He holds the coin very lightly and occasionally uses the serrated edge against the strings to produce a rasp.