1 Dollar Canada Silver George VI (1895-1952)

1949, Canada (Confederation), George VI.  Silver “Newfoundland” Dollar Coin. NGC MS-63!

Mint Year: 1949 Reference: KM-47. Denomination: Dollar  Condition: Certified and graded by NGC as MS-63! Material: Silver (.800) Weight: 23.33gm Diameter: 36mm

Obverse: Head of George VI left. Legend: GEORGIVS VI D: G: REX ET IND: IMP:

Reverse: John Cabot´s ship “The Matthew” at sea. Motto (FLOREAT TERRA NOVA) and date (1949) below. Legend: CANADA DOLLAR

The Matthew is a replica of a caravel¹ sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to North America, presumably Newfoundland. After a voyage which had got no further than Iceland, Cabot left again with only one vessel, the Matthew, a small ship (50 tons), but fast and able. The crew consisted of only 18 men. The Matthew departed either 2 May or 20 May 1497. He sailed to Dursey Head (latitude 51°36N), Ireland, from where he sailed due west, expecting to reach Asia. However, landfall was reached in North America on 24 June 1497. His precise landing place is a matter of much controversy, with Cape Bonavista or St. John’s in Newfoundland the most likely sites. Cabot went ashore to take possession of the land, and explored the coast for some time, probably departing on 20 July. On the homeward voyage his sailors incorrectly thought they were going too far north, so Cabot sailed a more southerly course, reaching Brittany instead of England. On 6 August he arrived back in Bristol.

George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India (until 1947) and the last King of Ireland (until 1949).

As the second son of King George V, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward. He served in the Royal Navy during World War I, and after the war took on the usual round of public engagements. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923, and they had two daughters, Elizabeth (who succeeded him as Queen Elizabeth II) and Margaret.

At the death of his father in 1936, the future George VI’s brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII. However, less than a year later Edward expressed his desire to marry the twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. For political and religious reasons, the British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, advised Edward that he could not marry Mrs. Simpson and remain king. So, Edward abdicated in order to marry. By reason of this abdication, unique in the history  of the British Isles (previous abdications were forced by military or  political pressures), George VI ascended the throne as the third  monarch of the House of Windsor.

Within twenty-four hours of his accession the Irish parliament passed the External Relations Act, which essentially removed the power of the monarch in Ireland.  Further events greatly altered the position of the monarchy during his  reign: three years after his accession, his realms, except Ireland,  were at war with Nazi Germany. In the next two years, war with Italy and the Empire of Japan followed. A major consequence of World War II was the decline of the British Empire, with the United States and the Soviet Union rising as pre-eminent world powers. With the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, and the foundation of the Republic of Ireland in 1949, King George’s reign saw the acceleration of the break-up of the British Empire and its transition into the Commonwealth of Nations.