Photo by Bassano Ltd © National Portrait Gallery, London
His name is first mentioned in Turkish numismatics literature as “Sculptor of the London Mint; Mr. Medkaley“ in the 1955 Catalogue by Turkish numismatist and actor Behzad Butak.
Behzat Butak quotes “Mister Medkaley” from a proceedings report of GNAT (Grand National Assembly of Türkiye) from 1944.
(While the forms of the new Republican gold coins were being discussed, Finance Minister Fuat Ağralı elaborates that Metcalfe was invited for the effigy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and that he also made an effigy of İsmet İnönü. Upon criticism on why a foreigner was tasked to create the president’s effigy, Metcalfe’s skillset as a coin engraver is emphasised) His name is misspelled most probably due to a transliteration error.
Royal Mint’s involvement with the Turkish coins, dates back to 1933. In September of that year, Deputy Master and Controller of the Royal Mint, Sir Robert Johnson visited Istanbul and the capital Ankara. He had learned that the Turkish Gov’t was planning of minting new coins with the new alphabet, hence he offered Royal Mint’s services to the Turkish Government. But was not successful in securing an order for minting the new coins. However, the relations between the two mints remained active and Percy Metcalfe visited Turkey in 1935 (*Royal Mint Annual Report of 1934, Page 17).
He was meant to produce an effigy of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, however he was requested to work on designs for the whole set of six coins.
Turkish circulation coins that bear Metcalfe’s designs:
- 50 Kuruş 1935 ~1937
- 25 Kuruş 1935 ~1946 (The 25 Kr pieces minted between 1944 to 1946 retained the same reverse as Metcalfe designed, however their obverse was changed to a crescent and star)
- 10 Kuruş 1935 ~1940
- 5 Kuruş 1935 ~1943
- 1 Kuruş 1935 ~1944 (after 1938, these coins were converted into an undulated form)
- 1 Lira 1937 ~ 1939
- 1 Lira 1940 ~ 1941
Metcalfe’s family donated some of his work to the British Museum. Among those, there are the early drafts of the 1935 coins’ designs:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/AUTH232341
The newspapers of the period, indicate that several coin designs were considered at the time. 50 Kr piece was initially a variant of the 1934 100 Kr piece by Ali Cemal Bey. However, eventually Metcalfe’s designs were used; probably for consistency within the set.
RMAC papers of the Royal Mint have a record of a 1 Lira model depicting a stylized art-deco wolf from 1935. Around that time, the denomination of 100 Kurus was being changed as 1 Lira.
The models of the said design are kept by the Royal Mint Museum archives. Records show that it was criticised in-house (RMAC Papers dated 31/10/1935) and was minted only in a couple of samples for the evaluation.
Grey Wolf was indeed a Turkish symbol and was used on some of the first banknotes. It was even considered to be a main figure as an emblem for the Turkish Republic. However, Atatürk rejected that idea, hence such coins were never minted.
Royal Mint Annual Report of 1938 also mentions (*page 16) that Metcalfe won a contest for the new gold coins’ design but Sir Johnson states that he believes after Ataturk’s death those coins would probably not be minted.
Yet, Royal Mint Museum holds models of the effigy of İsmet İnönü (second president of the Turkish Republic), and the gold and silver coins minted after 1940 bear that effigy by Metcalfe.
In the 20th issue of the Anatolian Numismatic Bulletin, Mr. Nurüddin Gürpınar, in his article titled “Cumhuriyet Altınlarımız” (Our Republic Gold Coins), also provides information about the artist whose name was mentioned during the Turkish Grand National Assembly discussions regarding the Gold Coins bearing the effigy of President İsmet İnönü.
1 Kurus pieces minted between 1938 and 1944, were in an undulated form so that they wouldn’t be confused with the silver 25 Kr pieces of the same diameter. Said coins resemble the coins of Iraq and Egypt, which were made by Metcalfe. This could be interpreted as the cooperation between the British and the Turkish Mints was still active at the time.
Percy Metcalfe, served in the Royal Mint from 1924 to 1948. Effigies of King George VI and many other nations’ rulers were his handywork. among his most famous were the Barnyard Set made for Free Irish State.
As a new dominion, Free Irish State considered having its own currency. For this purpose, an international competition was held in 1926. among 66 submissions, Metcalfe’s designs were selected. The animals, which some are related to hunting and some to farming, were assigned face value based on their status; the horse being the noblest and the woodcock being the humblest.
At first there was significant criticism that a nation seeking independence from the English rule is now going forward with coins “designed by an Englishman, denominated in the English way, and made at the English mint“. However, as Nobel laureate Yeats puts it “the coins have been designed to please those who look longer at each coin than anybody else; artists and children”, hence they were universally admired.
During his time at the Royal Mint, with the reputation he gained from the Free Irish State coinage and the support from Sir Robert Johnson, Percy Metcalfe produced many models for various countries. Some of these are; Mihai the 1st of Romania, Boris the 3rd of Bulgaria, Faisal and Ghazi of Iraq, Fuad and Farouq of Egypt, Demeter and Poseidon portraits on the Greek coins of 1930.
Article main photo; Percy Metcalfe working on plaster model of Boris the 3rd of Bulgaria Photo: HenryMooreInstitute
*We would like to thank World of Coins forum users <k>, africancoins and forum admin Peter Kraneveld for providing the fundamental lead on Percy Metcalfe’s contributions to the Turkish coins and also David Mason, Public Engagement & Information Officer and other staff of the Royal Mint Museum who provided invaluable information on Metcalfe’s work within their archives.
