“A man can own an island, and when a man owns an island, he can then issue his own coins,” Starck explains. “That’s what happened in Lundy, a privately owned island off the west coast of England until 1969, when the island was given to the National Trust. Forty years earlier, in 1929, a man named Martin Coles Harman issued his own coins and postage stamps, and here’s one of those coins today.”

“Harmon ordered 50,000 of each denomination — a crazy number — ostensibly for use in the island’s pub and store. But let’s get real, 50,000 for a few dozen folks? They have, however, become collector’s items, and I certainly have prized mine.”