Festival of Britain Crown 1951

WillieBoyd2

I recently read the history book Austerity Britain 1945-1951 by by David Kynaston, published in 2008.

It was about the period after World War II when Britain's economy was in bad shape and the country had
food and other rationing.

In 1951, to take people's minds off of the austerity situation, Britain held a world's fair type exposition
called the Festival of Britain, and issued 2,000,000 copper-nickel crown coins to commemorate it.

The book was interesting enough that I had to have one of these coins, and fortunately, many people
saved them and the holders they came in.

The coin:



The box:



The leaflet which came with the coin:





Festival of Britain 1951 Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_of_Britain

wybrit

I like the F.O.B. crown and the proof set that was issued around it as well. It was a nice step up from the '50 proof set.

I don't think the idea worked for very long. The Brit economy stayed in bad shape for years to come. I don't think it was ever very good while I lived there ('67-'77). Strikes constantly shut the whole country down (train drivers, coal miners, power workers took turns going on strike). The Beatles probably helped the economy more than anything else. The country has changed a lot since then.