1 Puffin - Martin Coles Harman Obverse Trial

Aluminium Trial Strike 1929, type of KM-XTn2. Larger 31 mm flan as noted for KM-XPn1.
Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, lying 12 miles (19 km) off the coast of Devon, England, approximately one third of the distance across the channel between England and Wales. Lundy gives its name to a British sea area and is one of the islands of England.
As of 2007, there was a resident population of 28 people, including volunteers, most live in and around the village at the south of the island. Most visitors are day-trippers, although there are 23 holiday properties and a camp site for staying visitors, mostly also around the south of the island.
The entire island has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and it was England's first statutory Marine Nature Reserve, and the first Marine Conservation Zone, because of its unique flora and fauna. It is managed by the Landmark Trust on behalf of the National Trust.
The island of Lundy is known for its population of puffins, which may have given the island its name. Puffin population declined in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and in 2005 the breeding population estimated to be only two or three pairs, as a consequence of depredations by brown and black rats and possibly also as a result of commercial fishing for sand eels, the puffins' principal prey. Since 2005, the breeding numbers have been slowly increasing. Adults were seen taking fish into four burrows in 2007, and six burrows in 2008.
Martin Coles Harman, a British merchant, purchased the island in 1924, proclaimed himself the "king" of the island and in 1929 issued two coins, a bronze 1/2 Puffin and 1 Puffin. In the 1930’ British justice fined Mr. Harman for the unauthorized mintage of the coins, and since then, the coins have been very popular for collectors. A new issue was released in 1965; the coins had the same design but were struck in different metals.