Home World & Ancient Coins Forum

1951 George VI, Festival of Britain Crown Question

In 1951, to celebrate the end of austerity after World War II, the British Government held a ‘Festival of Britain’ on the South Bank in London. They also issued a special Crown for King George VI, only the second crown struck for this monarch in this country. The first was struck for his Coronation in 1937 and that was half silver, this second and last crown was struck in Proof like cupronickel. You have the bare head of the King on one side and St. George slaying the dragon on the other side.
Is this a circulation or proof strike?

Enthusiastic collector of British pre-decimal and Canadian decimal circulation coins.

Comments

  • coinkatcoinkat Posts: 22,719 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Unfortunately the answer will likely be confusing... From the image, it looks to be a proof-like that was sold in a small box to commemorate the Festival. I do not believe this example was intended to circulate. What makes this confusing is that there were VIP proofs, regular proofs for the 1951 proof set, a handful of matte proofs and proof-likes. The proof likes are the most available. Hopefully this is not as confusing as it sounds... If it is, my apologies

    Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.

  • 7Jaguars7Jaguars Posts: 7,228 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I guess that I concur, however some of the ordinary proofs are not a lot different in detail than yours which appears relatively mark-free as well. Nice!

    Love that Milled British (1830-1960)
    Well, just Love coins, period.
  • bigmarty58bigmarty58 Posts: 1,998 ✭✭✭✭✭

    When viewing George VI circulation type sets many contain the 1951 crown as their representative crown, they refer to it as PL or proof like. Thank you for your help explaining this coin. I purchased the above crown and will be sending it in to be graded. Hoping for a 65.

    Enthusiastic collector of British pre-decimal and Canadian decimal circulation coins.
  • 7Jaguars7Jaguars Posts: 7,228 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Pretty sure you'll get it from the photos. That is nicely preserved.

    Love that Milled British (1830-1960)
    Well, just Love coins, period.
Sign In or Register to comment.