Silver Crown 2022 Queen Victoria - Gothic, Coin from Saint Helena - detailed information

Saint Helena is a small island in the South Atlantic Ocean which is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The currency of the island is the Saint Helena Pound, fixed at parity with the Pound Sterling. The island has been issuing commemorative coinage since 1989, initially mostly in the British Crown format.

The United Kingdom pre-decimal Crown denomination was equal to 5 shillings, which was re-denominated as a 25p coin at decimalisation in 1971. For that reason, commemorative crowns were initially denominated as 25 pence - which was written on the Saint Helena coinage, unlike its British counterpart which for a long time had a tradition of not spelling out the face value on the coin. After 1990, the "Crown" was revived as a commemorative £5 (five pounds) coin in the UK. Saint Helena Crowns have the same specifications and face value as the United Kingdom denomination, but are legal tender in the territory only and not in the UK.

The Mint says about this coin:
William Wyon produced some of the most iconic coin designs of the Victorian era. His 1838 "Young Head" portrait of Victoria was so well liked by her that it graced the coins of her reign for nearly 50 years. His 1839 Una & the Lion used characters from Edmund Spencer’s medieval poem. In 1847, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Victoria becoming Queen, a silver crown was released with a new portrait by Wyon.

In a shift from his Neoclassical roots, Wyon’s obverse design was influenced by the fashionable Neo-Gothic movement, and with a similarly styled reverse design by Scottish artist William Dyce, it became known as the "Gothic Crown".

Our Masterpiece Collection Victoria Gothic Crown Pattern edition features a faithful remaster of William Wyon’s Gothic Victoria effigy, its every detail carefully reproduced by The East India Company using a combination of expert hand craftsmanship that Wyon himself would recognise, and the very best of modern minting techniques.

The obverse of this Masterpiece Collection edition features the Commonwealth coinage portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by celebrated artist Jody Clark. Unveiled in 2015, it is only the fifth definitive portrait of The Queen to appear on British circulating coins since her accession to the throne in 1952.