1999 £5 Crown

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Two commemorative crowns were issued in 1999. The first was to commemorate Princess Diana, who had died in a car crash two years previous. The other was a millennium themed coin, dated 1999 (a identical version was also made, dated 2000)

Commemorative £5 Coin, Type 6: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):

crown1999millenobv

Reverse Type (design by David Cornell):

crown1999DIrev

Rotated die reverse (with Queen on the other side up the right way):

Edge: Milled edge.

Mintage for Circulation: 5,396,300 (total for both 1999 dated £5 coins).

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 for the normal coin, higher for the rotated die coin (for scale details see here)

This coin also exists with rotated die alignment of about 80 degrees clockwise – i.e. with the Queen up the right way, Diana is looking downwards, as shown in the picture above. The rotated die coin is probably quite scarce.

The story behind the design:

The obverse shows the new (for 1998) Ian Rank-Broadley bust of the Queen. The reverse is by David Cornell and shows a profile of Princess Diana with the dates 1961 and 1997. Lady Diana Spencer was born in Snadringham, Norfolk as the fourth child of Viscount Althorp. She married the Prince of Wales in 1981 (to mark the marriage there was am earlier Crown coin issued in 1981):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales

 

Commemorative £5 Coin, Type 7 (1999): (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by Ian Rank-Broadley):

crown1999millenobv

Reverse Type (design by Jeffrey Matthews):

crown1999millenrev

Edge: WHAT’S PAST IS PROLOGUE.

Mintage for Circulation: 5,396,300 (total for both 1999 dated £5 coins).

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

The obverse shows the new (for 1998) Ian Rank-Broadley bust of the Queen. The reverse is by Jeffrey Matthews and shows a clock with its hands showing midnight, with it’s centre at London on a clock-face showing the British Isles. Much preparation was put into the celebration of the Millennium, including the erection of the Millennium Dome:

http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/millennium-dome

 

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