A Proclamation

DETERMINING THE SPECIFICATIONS AND DESIGN FOR FIFTY PENCE COINS COMMEMORATING THE ONE-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE VICTORIA CROSS

ELIZABETH R.

Whereas under section 3(1)(a), (b), (c), (cc), (d) and (dd) of the Coinage Act 1971 We have power, with the advice of Our Privy Council, by Proclamation to determine the denomination, design and dimensions of coins to be made at Our Mint, to determine the weight and fineness of certain gold coins, the remedy to be allowed in the making of such coins and their least current weight, and to determine the weight and composition of coins other than gold coins or coins of silver of Our Maundy money and the remedy to be allowed in the making of such coins and to determine the percentage of impurities which such coins may contain:

And Whereas it appears to Us desirable to order that, to commemorate the one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the institution of the Victoria Cross, there should be made at Our Mint coins of the denomination of fifty pence in gold, in silver and in cupro-nickel:

We, therefore, in pursuance of the said section 3(1)(a), (b), (c), (cc), (d) and (dd), and of all other powers enabling Us in that behalf, do hereby, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, proclaim, direct and ordain as follows:

GOLD COIN

1.	(1)	A new coin of gold of the denomination of fifty pence shall be made, being a coin of a standard weight of 15.5 grammes, a standard diameter of 27.3 millimetres and of millesimal fineness 916.666, and being in the shape of an equilateral curve heptagon.
(2)	In the making of the said gold coin a remedy (that is, a variation from the standard weight, diameter or fineness specified above) shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding the following, that is to say:
(a)	a variation from the said standard weight of an amount per coin (measured as the average of a sample of not more than one kilogramme of the coin) of 0.065 grammes;
(b)	a variation from the said standard diameter of 0.125 millimetres per coin; and
(c)	a variation from the said millesimal fineness of two per mille.
(3)	The least current weight of the said gold coin shall be 15.4 grammes.
STANDARD SILVER COIN
2.	(1)	A new coin of silver of the denomination of fifty pence shall be made, being a coin of a standard weight of 8 grammes, a standard diameter of 27.3 millimetres, a standard composition of 925 parts per thousand fine silver, and being in the shape of an equilateral curve heptagon.
(2)	In the making of the said silver coin a remedy (that is, a variation from the standard weight, diameter or composition specified above) shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding the following, that is to say:
(a)	a variation from the said standard weight of an amount per coin (measured as the average of a sample of not more than one kilogramme of the coin) of 0.075 grammes;
(b)	a variation from the said standard diameter of 0.125 millimetres per coin; and
(c)	a variation from the said standard composition of five parts per thousand fine silver.
SILVER PIEDFORT COIN
3.	(1)	A new coin of silver of the denomination of fifty pence shall be made, being a coin of a standard weight of 16 grammes, a standard diameter of 27.3 millimetres, a standard composition of 925 parts per thousand fine silver, and being in the shape of an equilateral curve heptagon.
(2)	In the making of the said silver coin a remedy (that is, a variation from the standard weight, diameter or composition specified above) shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding the following, that is to say:
(a)	a variation from the said standard weight of an amount per coin (measured as the average of a sample of not more than one kilogramme of the coin) of 0.095 grammes;
(b)	a variation from the said standard diameter of 0.125 millimetres per coin; and
(c)	a variation from the said standard composition of five parts per thousand fine silver.
CUPRO-NICKEL COIN
4.	(1)	A new coin of cupro-nickel of the denomination of fifty pence shall be made, being a coin of a standard weight of 8 grammes, a standard diameter of 27.3 millimetres, a standard composition of seventy-five per centum copper and twenty-five per centum nickel, and being in the shape of an equilateral curve heptagon.
(2)	In the making of the said cupro-nickel coin a remedy (that is, a variation from the standard weight, diameter or composition specified above) shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding the following, that is to say:
(a)	a variation from the said standard weight of an amount per coin (measured as the average of a sample of not more than one kilogramme of the coin) of 0.045 grammes;
(b)	a variation from the said standard diameter of 0.125 millimetres per coin; and
(c)	a variation from the said standard composition of two per centum copper and two per centum nickel.
(3)	The said cupro-nickel coin may contain impurities of 0.75 of one per centum.
DESIGN OF THE COINS
5.	The design of the said coins shall be as follows:

‘For the obverse impression Our effigy with the circumscription “ELIZABETH ; II ; D ; G REG ; F ; D ;” and the date of the year and for the reverse either:

(a)	a depiction of the obverse and reverse of a Victoria Cross with the date “29. JAN 1856.” in the centre of the reverse of the Cross, the letters “V C” to the right and the value “FIFTY PENCE” below; or
(b)	a depiction of a soldier carrying a wounded comrade with an outline of the Victoria Cross surrounded by a sunburst effect in the background.
The coins shall have a plain edge’.
6	This Proclamation shall come into force on the thirteenth day of October Two thousand and five.

Given at Our Court at Buckingham Palace, this twelfth day of October in the year of our Lord Two thousand and five and in the fifty-fourth year of Our Reign.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN