George Kruger Gray
Encyclopedia
George Edward Kruger Gray (December 25, 1880–May 2, 1943) was an English
artist
, best remembered for his designs of coin
age and stained glass
windows.
from 1929 to 1963.He also designed the Flag of the Colony of Aden
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, best remembered for his designs of coin
Coin
A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....
age and stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
windows.
Coinage
- Kruger Gray designed the Reverse ("Tails") of most of AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
'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 sixpenceSixpence (Australian)The Australian Sixpence was a coin used in the Commonwealth of Australia prior to decimalization. It was minted from 1910 until 1963, excluding 1913, 1915, 1929–33 inclusive, 1937, 1947 and 1949...
did not change design.) Additionally, he designed the reverses of the commemorative Florins for 1927 and 1935. - In CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, 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 CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
he designed the reverse of the 1938–1940 9 piastres and 18 piastres, 1928 4½ piastres, and 1947–1949 florin. - For Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
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 JerseyJerseyJersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
he designed the reverse for the 1927–1952 1/12th shilling and the 1/24th shilling. - For MauritiusMauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
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 GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
he designed the reverse for the 1936–1944 penny, 3 pence, 6 pence, and shilling. - For New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
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 AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
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 KrugerrandKrugerrandThe Krugerrand is a South African gold coin, first minted in 1967 to help market South African gold. The coin, produced by the South African Mint, proved popular and by 1980 the Krugerrand accounted for 90% of the gold coin market. The name itself is a compound of Kruger and rand, the South...
beginning in 1967. - For Southern RhodesiaSouthern RhodesiaSouthern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as 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 AustraliaUniversity of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
from 1929 to 1963.He also designed the Flag of the Colony of Aden
Flag of the Colony of Aden
The Flag of the Colony of Aden was used as the official flag for the British Colony of Aden from 1937 until 18 January 1963 when it was renamed the State of Aden and subsequently used the Flag of the State of Aden under the Federation of South Arabia...
.