Five Pounds 2018 First World War Armistice - Imperial War Museums, Coin from United Kingdom - detailed information

At the time of decimalisation in 1971, the United Kingdom Crown coin (equal to 5 shillings) was redenominated as a 25p coin and pieces struck prior to 1990 - all the way back to 1818 - continue to be legal tender for that amount. The old denomination had been a regular circulating coin in the 19th century, but in the 20th century it became more of a commemorative denomination.

The Royal Mint continued issuing commemorative coins in the same format - using the traditional coin dimensions, but in copper-nickel. These were initially also denominated as 25 pence but the "Crown" was changed in 1990 to a commemorative £5 (five pound) coin, having the same dimensions and weight but with a face value twenty times as great.

The denomination is used to mark special occasions, usually royal in theme, rather than for use in general circulation. Although not circulating, these coins are legal tender.

This commemorative £5 Crown-sized coin was issued as part of a six-coin set of similar coins commemorating the Centenary of the Armistice ending the First World War; the set itself is the last part of a series of sets issued over several years. The coin is dedicated to the Imperial War Museums, in collaboration with which the whole series was developed.

The Imperial War Museum was founded on 5 March 1917 when the War Cabinet approved a proposal by Sir Alfred Mond MP for the creation of a national war museum to record the events still taking place during the Great War.

Today, the Imperial War Museum is a leading authority on conflict and its impact, focusing on Britain, its former Empire and the Commonwealth, from First World War to the present.

Military artist David Rowlands said, “The Imperial War Museum in London was set up before the end of the war, with the intention of collecting items from battlefields, among other things, like photographs and so on, so that the war could be experienced to a certain extent in a physical form.

“Most visitors to the museum would have been touched by the war - they would have lost friends and relatives, or had loved ones wounded in action – and this would give them a physical experience of what those close to them had been through. It struck me that this was the only way to do that in those days. There was no television, of course, and the men who returned spoke little of what they had endured. The Imperial War Museum in London for me was not just a museum, it was really trying to convey a message, and preserve memories.”

The coin was issued in Proof FDC, in sterling silver and in a gold, both in sets only and not issued individually. The set features edge inscriptions from an exclusive poem by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.