1/2 Sovereign - Elizabeth II Three Graces

Alderney's legal authority to issue coins derives from its status as a dependency of the British Crown, outside the United Kingdom proper, which has allowed the island's administration to license commemorative issues far beyond anything the Royal Mint would sanction domestically. The Three Graces design revives a composition originally created by William Wyon for a pattern sovereign of 1817 — a piece that was never issued for circulation and survived only as a proof rarity.

Wyon's original was itself a competitive submission during the post-Napoleonic recoinage, passed over in favor of Pistrucci's St. George.