George Kruger Gray

George Edward Kruger Gray (December 25, 1880–May 2, 1943) was an English artist, best remembered for his designs of coinage and stained glass windows.

Coinage

• Kruger Gray designed the Reverse ("Tails") of most of Australia's second set of currency, used from 1937 until the changeover to Decimal Currency in 1966. This included the Half Penny, Penny, Three Pence, Shilling, Florin and Crown. (The sixpence did not change design.) Additionally, he designed the reverses of the commemorative Florins for 1927 and 1935.
• In Canada, he designed the reverse of the One Cent (Penny) and Five Cent (Nickel) that has been in continual use since 1937 with the exception of special coinage. He also designed the reverse of the 50 cent coin in use from 1937 to 1958.
• For Cyprus he designed the reverse of the 1938–1940 9 piastres and 18 piastres, 1928 4½ piastres, and 1947–1949 florin.
• For Great Britain he designed the reverse for the 1927–1945 silver 3 pence, 1927–1952 six pence, 1927–1936 shilling, both the Scottish and English motifs for the 1937–1952 shilling, 1927–1952 florin, 1927–1952 half crown, 1927–1936 crown (except for the 1935 Jubilee crown), and 1937 crown.
• For Jersey he designed the reverse for the 1927–1952 1/12th shilling and the 1/24th shilling.
• For Mauritius he designed the reverse for the 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, and 10 cents for 1937 to 1978, and the 1/4, 1/2, and 1 rupee of 1942–1978.
• For New Guinea he designed the reverse for the 1936–1944 penny, 3 pence, 6 pence, and shilling.
• For New Zealand he designed the reverse for the 3 pence (depicting crossed patu), the 6 pence (depicting a huia bird), the shilling (depicting a Maori warrior holding a Taiha), the florin (deplicting a kiwi), and the half crown reverse 1933–1965.
• For South Africa he designed the reverse for the ¼d (farthing), ½d (half penny), 1d (penny), 3 pence, 6 pence, shilling, florin, and half crown 1923–1960, reverse of the 1947 and 1951 crowns which were later used from 1953 to 1960. Reverse 1961–1941 half, two and half, five, ten, and twenty cents. The reverse design for the crown (5 shillings) of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II was later used for the Krugerrand beginning in 1967.
• For Southern Rhodesia he designed the reverse side of the 1932–1952 3 pence, the 1932–1952 6 pence, the 1937–1952 1 Shilling, the 1937–1954 2 Shilling, and the 1937–1952 Half Crown.

Other works

George Kruger Gray was a well known artisan of his time, and produced a number of Coats of Arms, including the version used by The University of Western Australia from 1929 to 1963.^[1]He also designed the Flag of the Colony of Aden.

References