1.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
2.
Golden Hind
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Golden Hind was an English galleon best known for her privateering circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake. She was originally known as Pelican, but was renamed by Drake mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drakes world voyage. The queens support was advantageous, Drake had official approval to benefit himself and this would eventually culminate in the Anglo–Spanish War. Before setting sail, Drake met the queen face-to-face for the first time and she said to him, the explicit object was to find out places meet to have traffic. Drake, however, acted as a privateer, with support from Queen Elizabeth. Drake commissioned his flagship in Plymouth, the keel was registered in 1575. The majority of the work was done in 1576, and it was completed early the next year and it is described as a mid 16th century warship during the transition from the carrack to the galleon, and displaced about 100 tons. He first named his flagship the Pelican, but renamed it the Golden Hind on 20 August 1578 to honor his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton and he set sail in December 1577 with five small ships, manned by 164 men, and reached the Brazilian coast in early 1578. On 1 March 1579, now in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Ecuador and this galleon had the largest treasure captured to that date, over 360,000 pesos. The six tons of treasure took six days to transship and included 26 tons of silver, half a ton of gold, porcelain, jewellery, coins, there she shrewdly asked the French ambassador to bestow a knighthood on Drake. Her share of the came to at least £160,000, enough to pay off her entire government debt. Her return and that of other investors came to more than £47 for every £1 invested, after Drakes circumnavigation, the Golden Hind was maintained for public exhibition at the dockyard at Deptford, London. The ship remained there from 1580 to approximately 1650 before she eventually rotted away and was broken up. A table, known as the cupboard, in the Middle Temple Hall is also reputed to have made from the wood of Golden Hind. Upon the cupboard is placed the roll of members of Middle Temple, the ships lantern was hung in the vestibule of Middle Temple Hall but was destroyed during the Second World War. A replica of Golden Hind was constructed at Peter Pans Playground, Southend-on-Sea and it was constructed from 1947 and opened in 1949 together with a waxworks. It was popular at first, but by 1992 attendances had dropped, the ship was replaced by a replica of Blackbeards Queen Annes Revenge. This ship was demolished in 2013, the replica ship used in the TV series cost £25,000 to construct and had no rear gallery
3.
Britannia
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It is a term still used to refer to the island today. In AD43 the Roman Empire began its conquest of the island, establishing a province they called Britannia, in the 2nd century, Roman Britannia came to be personified as a goddess, armed with a trident and shield and wearing a Corinthian helmet. After centuries of declining use, the Latin form was revived during the English Renaissance as an evocation of a British national identity. A British cultural icon, she was featured on all modern British coinage series until the redesign in 2008, in 2015 a new definitive £2 coin was issued, with a new image of Britannia. She is also depicted in the Brit Awards statuette, the British Phonographic Industrys annual music awards, the first writer to use a form of the name was the Greek explorer and geographer Pytheas in the 4th century BC. Pytheas referred to Prettanike or Brettaniai, a group of islands off the coast of North-Western Europe, in the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus referred to Pretannia, a rendering of the indigenous name for the Pretani people whom the Greeks believed to inhabit the British Isles. Following the Greek usage, the Romans referred to the Insulae Britannicae in the plural, consisting of Albion, Hibernia, Thule, over time, Albion specifically came to be known as Britannia, and the name for the group was subsequently dropped. The Roman conquest of the began in AD43, leading to the establishment of the Roman province known in Latin as Britannia. A southern part of what is now Scotland was occupied by the Romans for about 20 years in the mid-2nd century AD, people living in the Roman province of Britannia were called Britanni, or Britons. Ireland, inhabited by the Scoti, was never invaded and was called Hibernia, Thule, an island six days sail north of Britain, and near the frozen sea, possibly Iceland, was also never invaded by the Romans. She appeared on coins issued under Hadrian, as a more regal-looking female figure, Britannia was soon personified as a goddess, looking fairly similar to the goddess Minerva. Early portraits of the goddess depict Britannia as a young woman, wearing the helmet of a centurion. She is usually seated on a rock, holding a spear. Sometimes she holds a standard and leans on the shield, on another range of coinage, she is seated on a globe above waves, Britain at the edge of the world. Similar coin types were issued under Antoninus Pius. After the Roman withdrawal, the term Britannia remained in use in Britain, Latin was ubiquitous amongst native Brythonic writers and the term continued in the Welsh tradition that developed from it. Following the migration of Brythonic Celts, The term Britannia also came to refer to the Armorican peninsula. )The modern English, French, Breton and Gallo names for the area, all derive from a literal use of Britannia meaning land of the Britons. The two Britannias gave rise to the term Grande Bretagne to distinguish the island of Britain from the continental peninsula
4.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
5.
Obverse and reverse
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In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads, because it depicts the head of a prominent person. In fields of scholarship outside numismatics, the front is more commonly used than obverse. For prints and drawings with material on both sides the one judged as more significant will be the recto, a convention now exists typically to display the obverse to the left and the reverse to the right in photographs and museum displays, but this is not invariably observed. Following this principle, in the most famous of ancient Greek coins, the tetradrachm of Athens, the obverse is the head of Athena, similar versions of these two images, both symbols of the state, were used on the Athenian coins for more than two centuries. The opposite side may have varied from time to time and this change happened in the coinage of Alexander the Great, which continued to be minted long after his death. The various Hellenistic rulers who were his successors followed his tradition and this script alone style then was used on nearly all Islamic coinage until the modern period. The type of Justinian II was revived after the end of Iconoclasm, without images, therefore, it is not always easy to tell which side will be regarded as the obverse without some knowledge. After 695, Islamic coins avoided all images of persons and usually, the side expressing the Six Kalimas is usually defined as the obverse. The form of currency follows its function, which is to serve as an accepted medium of exchange of value. Traditionally, most states have been monarchies where the person of the monarch, if not provided for on the obverse, the reverse side usually contains information relating to a coins role as medium of exchange. Additional space typically reflects the countrys culture or government, or evokes some aspect of the states territory. Regarding the euro, some regarding the obverse and reverse of the euro coins exists. This rule does not apply to the coins as they dont have a common side. A number of the used for obverse national sides of euro coins were taken from the reverse of the old pre-euro coins of some individual countries. Several countries continue to use portraits of the monarch and the Republic of Ireland continues to use the State Arms. The Chrysanthemum Crest was no longer used after the war, and so, the side on which the date continues to be regarded as the reverse. Following ancient tradition, the obverse of coins of the United Kingdom almost always feature the head of the monarch
6.
Francis Drake
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Sir Francis Drake, vice admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. With his incursion into the Pacific he inaugurated an era of privateering, Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588 and he died of dysentery in January 1596 after unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico. His exploits made him a hero to the English but a pirate to the Spaniards, King Philip II was said to have offered a reward of 20,000 ducats, about £4 million by modern standards, for his life. Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon, England, although his birth is not formally recorded, it is known that he was born while the Six Articles were in force. Drake was two and twenty when he obtained the command of the Judith and this would date his birth to 1544. A date of c.1540 is suggested from two portraits, one a miniature painted by Nicholas Hilliard in 1581 when he was allegedly 42 and he was the eldest of the twelve sons of Edmund Drake, a Protestant farmer, and his wife Mary Mylwaye. The first son was alleged to have named after his godfather Francis Russell. Because of religious persecution during the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549, there the father obtained an appointment to minister the men in the Kings Navy. He was ordained deacon and was vicar of Upnor Church on the Medway. Drakes father apprenticed Francis to his neighbour, the master of a used for coastal trade transporting merchandise to France. The ship master was so satisfied with the young Drakes conduct that, being unmarried and childless at his death, Francis Drake married Mary Newman in 1569. She died 12 years later, in 1581, in 1585, Drake married Elizabeth Sydenham—born circa 1562, the only child of Sir George Sydenham, of Combe Sydenham, who was the High Sheriff of Somerset. After Drakes death, the widow Elizabeth eventually married Sir William Courtenay of Powderham. At age 23, Drake made his first voyage to the Americas, sailing with his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, on one of a fleet of ships owned by his relatives. In 1568 Drake was again with the Hawkins fleet when it was trapped by the Spaniards in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulúa, following the defeat at San Juan de Ulúa, Drake vowed revenge. He made two voyages to the West Indies, in 1570 and 1571, of which little is known, in 1572, he embarked on his first major independent enterprise. He planned an attack on the Isthmus of Panama, known to the Spanish as Tierra Firme and the English as the Spanish Main
7.
Northern England
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Northern England or the North of England, also known as the North Country or simply the North, is the northern part of England, when considered as a single cultural area. The area roughly spans from the River Trent and River Dee to the Scottish border in the north, Northern England roughly comprises three statistical regions, the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber. These have a population of around 14.9 million as of the 2011 Census. The region has been controlled by groups from the Brigantes. After the Norman conquest in 1066, the Harrying of the North brought destruction, a Council of the North was in place during the Late Middle Ages until the Commonwealth after the Civil War. The area experienced Anglo–Scottish border fighting until the unification of Britain under the Stuarts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the economy of the North was dominated by heavy industry such as weaving, shipbuilding, steelmaking and mining. The deindustrialisation that followed in the half of the 20th century hit Northern England hard. For government and statistical purposes, Northern England is defined as the covered by the three statistical regions of North East England, North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber. This definition will be used in article, except when otherwise stated. Using historic county boundaries, the North is generally taken to comprise Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmorland, County Durham, Lancashire and Yorkshire, the Isle of Man is occasionally included in definitions of the North, although it is politically and culturally distinct from England. Additionally, some areas of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire have been associated with the North. The geographer Danny Dorling includes most of the West Midlands and part of the East Midlands in his definition of the North, conversely, more restrictive definitions also exist, typically based on the extent of the historical Northumbria, which exclude Cheshire and Lincolnshire. Personal definitions of the North vary greatly and are sometimes passionately debated, when asked to draw a dividing line between North and South, Southerners tend to draw this line further south than Northerners do. Various towns have been described as or promoted themselves as the gateway to the North, including Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent, through the North of England run the Pennines, an upland chain often referred to as the backbone of England. This stretches from the Cheviot Hills on the border with Scotland to the Peak District, the geography of the North has been heavily shaped by the ice sheets of the Pleistocene era, which often reached as far south as the Midlands. On the other side of the Pennines, a glacial lake forms the Humberhead Levels, a large area of fenland which drains into the Humber. This has left the North a region of contrasts, the Lake District includes Englands highest peak, Scafell Pike, which rises to 978 m, its largest lake, Windermere, and its deepest lake, Wastwater. However, dense areas have emerged along the coasts and rivers
8.
Oxford English Dictionary
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The Oxford English Dictionary is a descriptive dictionary of the English language, published by the Oxford University Press. The second edition came to 21,728 pages in 20 volumes, in 1895, the title The Oxford English Dictionary was first used unofficially on the covers of the series, and in 1928 the full dictionary was republished in ten bound volumes. In 1933, the title The Oxford English Dictionary fully replaced the name in all occurrences in its reprinting as twelve volumes with a one-volume supplement. More supplements came over the years until 1989, when the edition was published. Since 2000, an edition of the dictionary has been underway. The first electronic version of the dictionary was available in 1988. The online version has been available since 2000, and as of April 2014 was receiving two million hits per month. The third edition of the dictionary will probably appear in electronic form, Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press. As a historical dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary explains words by showing their development rather than merely their present-day usages, therefore, it shows definitions in the order that the sense of the word began being used, including word meanings which are no longer used. The format of the OEDs entries has influenced numerous other historical lexicography projects and this influenced later volumes of this and other lexicographical works. As of 30 November 2005, the Oxford English Dictionary contained approximately 301,100 main entries, the dictionarys latest, complete print edition was printed in 20 volumes, comprising 291,500 entries in 21,730 pages. The longest entry in the OED2 was for the verb set, as entries began to be revised for the OED3 in sequence starting from M, the longest entry became make in 2000, then put in 2007, then run in 2011. Despite its impressive size, the OED is neither the worlds largest nor the earliest exhaustive dictionary of a language, the Dutch dictionary Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal is the worlds largest dictionary, has similar aims to the OED and took twice as long to complete. Another earlier large dictionary is the Grimm brothers dictionary of the German language, begun in 1838, the official dictionary of Spanish is the Diccionario de la lengua española, and its first edition was published in 1780. The Kangxi dictionary of Chinese was published in 1716, trench suggested that a new, truly comprehensive dictionary was needed. On 7 January 1858, the Society formally adopted the idea of a new dictionary. Volunteer readers would be assigned particular books, copying passages illustrating word usage onto quotation slips, later the same year, the Society agreed to the project in principle, with the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. He withdrew and Herbert Coleridge became the first editor, on 12 May 1860, Coleridges dictionary plan was published and research was started
9.
Farthing (British coin)
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The British farthing coin, from fourthing, was a unit of currency of one quarter of a penny, or one nine hundred and sixtieth of a pound sterling. It was minted in bronze, and replaced the earlier copper farthings and it was used during the reign of six monarchs, Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II, ceasing to be legal tender in 1960. It featured two different designs on its reverse during its one hundred years in circulation, from 1860 until 1936, the image of Britannia, and from 1937 onwards, like all British coinage, it bore the portrait of the monarch on the obverse. Before Decimal Day in 1971, there were two hundred and forty pence in one pound sterling, there were four farthings in a penny, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. Values less than a pound were usually written in terms of shillings and pence, values of less than a shilling were simply written in terms of pence, e. g. 8d, pronounced eightpence. A price with a farthing in it would be written like this, pronounced nineteen, as of 2014, the purchasing power of a farthing in 1960 ranged between 2p and 7p. The original reverse of the coin, designed by Leonard Charles Wyon, is a seated Britannia, holding a trident, issues before 1895 also feature a lighthouse to Britannias left and a ship to her right. Various minor adjustments to the level of the sea depicted around Britannia, some issues feature toothed edges, while others feature beading. Over the years, seven different obverses were used, Edward VII, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II each had a single obverse for farthings produced during their respective reigns. Over the long reign of Queen Victoria two different obverses were used, and the reign of Edward VIII meant that no farthings bearing his likeness were ever issued. The farthing was first issued with the so-called bun head, or draped bust of Queen Victoria on the obverse, the inscription around the bust read VICTORIA D G BRITT REG F D. This was replaced in 1895 by the old head, or veiled bust, the inscription on these coins read VICTORIA DEI GRA BRITT REGINA FID DEF IND IMP. Coins issued during the reign of Edward VII feature his likeness, similarly, those issued during the reign of George V feature his likeness and bear the inscription GEORGIVS V DEI GRA BRITT OMN REX FID DEF IND IMP. The obverse shows a portrait of the king, the inscription on the obverse is EDWARDVS VIII D G BR OMN REX F D IND IMP. The pattern coin of Edward VIII and regular-issue farthings of George VI and Elizabeth II feature a redesigned reverse displaying the wren, one of Britains smallest birds. George VI issue coins feature the inscription GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX F D IND IMP before 1949, and GEORGIVS VI D G BR OMN REX FIDEI DEF thereafter
10.
Half crown (British coin)
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The half crown was a denomination of British money, equivalent to two shillings and sixpence, or one-eighth of a pound. The half crown was first issued in 1549, in the reign of Edward VI. No half crowns were issued in the reign of Mary, but from the reign of Elizabeth I half crowns were issued in every reign except Edward VIII, the half crown was demonetised on 1 January 1970, the year before the United Kingdom adopted decimal currency on Decimal Day. During the English Interregnum of 1649–1660, a half crown was issued, bearing the arms of the Commonwealth of England. When Oliver Cromwell made himself Lord Protector of England, half crowns were issued bearing his semi-royal portrait, the half crown did not display its value on the reverse until 1893. King Henry VIII1526, the first English half crown was struck in gold, king Edward VI1551, issued the first half crown in silver. The coin was dated and showed the king riding a horse, Queen Mary I, the half crown was struck on Marys marriage to Philip II of Spain in 1554 but was never issued for circulation. Http, //www. petitioncrown. com/spare15_LK47. html Queen Elizabeth I, at the end of the reign silver half crowns were issued. King James I, gold crowns were issued again. During the reign silver half crowns were issued, king Charles I, silver half crowns were issued, including those struck as obsidional money, money of necessity during the Civil War period. Commonwealth of England, Oliver Cromwell silver half crowns were issued, during the years 1656 and 1658 milled half crowns were issued of Oliver Cromwell. King Charles II 1663–1685, silver half crowns were issued, king James II 1685–1688, silver half crown. King William III & Queen Mary II 1689–1694, silver half crown, William III of England 1694–1702, silver half crown. Queen Anne 1702–1714, silver half crown, king George I 1714–1727, silver half crown. King George II 1727–1760, silver half crown, king George III 1760–1820, silver half crown. King George IV 1820–1830, silver half crown, king William IV 1830–1837, silver half crown. Queen Victoria 1837–1901, silver half crown, king Edward VII 1902–1910, silver half crown. King George V 1910–1936, silver half crown, sterling silver until 1919, king Edward VIII1936, 50% silver half crown
11.
Crown (British coin)
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The British crown, the successor to the English crown and the Scottish dollar, came into being with the Union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1707. As with the English coin, its value was five shillings, in that format it has continued to be minted, even following decimalisation of the British currency in 1971. However, as the result of inflation the value of the coin was revised upwards in 1990 to five pounds, the kingdom of England also minted gold Crowns in the 16th and 17th centuries. The dies for all gold and silver coins of Queen Anne and King George I were engraved by John Croker, the British crown was always a large coin, and from the 19th century it did not circulate well. However, crowns were struck in a new monarchs coronation year, true of each monarch since King George IV up until the present monarch in 1953. The Queen Victoria Gothic crown of 1847 and produced to celebrate the Gothic revival) is considered by many to be the most beautiful British coin ever minted. The King George V wreath crowns struck from 1927 through 1936 depict a wreath on the reverse of the coin and were struck in very low numbers. Generally struck late in the year and intended to be purchased as Christmas gifts, they did not circulate well, with the rarest of all dates,1934, the 1927 wreath crowns were struck as proofs only. With its large size, many of the coins were primarily commemoratives. The 1951 issue was for the Festival of Britain, and was struck in proof condition. The 1965 issue carried the image of Winston Churchill on the reverse, the first time a non-monarch or commoner was ever placed on a British coin, production of the Churchill Crown began on 11 October 1965, and stopped in the summer of 1966. The crown was worth five shillings until decimalisation in February 1971, the last five shilling piece was minted in 1965. The crown coin was nicknamed the dollar, but is not to be confused with the British trade dollar that circulated in the Orient, in 2014, a new world record price was achieved for a milled silver crown. The coin was issued as a pattern by engraver Thomas Simon in 1663 and this was presented to Charles II as the new crown piece but was ultimately rejected in favour of the Roettiers Brothers design. Auctioneers Spink & Son of London sold the coin on 27 March 2014 for £396,000 including commission, after decimalisation on 15 February 1971, a new coin known as a 25p piece was introduced. All of these issues were struck in large mintages, in cases, and in cupro-nickel. The legal tender value of the crown remained as five shillings from 1544 to 1965, however, for most of this period there was no denominational designation or face value mark of value displayed on the coin. From 1927 to 1939, the word CROWN appears, and from 1951 to 1960 this was changed to FIVE SHILLINGS
12.
Sovereign (British coin)
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The sovereign is a gold coin of the United Kingdom, with a nominal value of one pound sterling. Prior to 1932 it was a circulating coin within Britains then Gold Standard currency. Today it is used as a coin and is sometimes mounted in jewellery. Named after the English gold sovereign, last minted in 1604, minting these new sovereigns began in 1817. The gold content was fixed by the act of 1816 at 1320/5607 troy ounces. This weight has remained almost constant — rounding at 10−6 g took place on its legal redefinition in the rather than fractional system of coin weights. Sovereigns have been minted in the United Kingdom from 1817 to 1917, in 1925, in the past Australia, Canada, and South Africa all occasionally minted the coins. Today, they are minted at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales, in addition to the sovereign, the Royal Mint also struck ten-shilling half sovereigns, two-pound double sovereigns, and five-pound quintuple sovereign coins. Only the sovereign and the sovereign were commonly struck for circulation. In 2009, The Royal Mint released a new coin in the sovereign series and this was succeeded by a portrayal of Saint George killing a dragon, engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci. In Victorian times it was the practice of the Bank of England to remove worn sovereigns and half sovereigns from circulation, consequently, although a billion sovereigns have been minted in total, that figure includes gold that has been coined and recoined a number of times. When gold coins were withdrawn from circulation in 1933 in the US. It was actually the half-sovereign that had the most circulation in Victorian Britain, many sovereigns languished in bank vaults for most of their lives. In 1889 and 1890 Orders in Council were made permitting members of the public to hand in any gold coins that were underweight and have them replaced by full-weight coins. A proclamation was issued in November 1890 that any gold coin struck before 1837 would cease to be legal tender with effect from 28 February 1891. This recycled gold was subsequently reminted into 13,680,486 half sovereigns in 1892 and 10,846,741 sovereigns in 1900, Sovereign obverse dies were also used in the nineteenth century to create farthings once they had become worn. Sovereigns were produced in large quantities until World War I, at time the UK came off the gold standard. From then until 1932, sovereigns were produced only at branch mints at Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Bombay, Ottawa, the last regular issue was in 1932
