1/4 Sovereign - Elizabeth II 90th Birthday, Gold Piedfort

Gibraltar's coin program has long operated as a commercial licensing exercise rather than a reflection of genuine monetary need — the territory issues legal tender coinage far in excess of what its 30,000-odd residents could ever circulate. The piedfort format, a blank struck at double the normal planchet thickness, originates in French medieval practice and was revived by the Royal Mint in the 1980s primarily as a premium collector vehicle. This piece follows that same logic exactly.

Elizabeth II turned 90 on 21 April 2016, becoming the longest-lived British monarch on record.