Alderney was the only British territory occupied by German forces during World War II, a fact that gives this island's D-Day commemoratives a weight that purely metropolitan British issues cannot claim. Roughly 2,000 Alderney civilians were evacuated before the occupation in June 1940; those who remained, or were later deported, experienced the war at its most direct. The island itself sits within sight of the Normandy coast.
Alderney's coinage rights derive from a 1993 arrangement — its pieces are legal tender but struck to commemorative rather than circulation standards.
Alderney was the only British territory occupied by German forces during World War II, a fact that gives this island's D-Day commemoratives a weight that purely metropolitan British issues cannot claim. Roughly 2,000 Alderney civilians were evacuated before the occupation in June 1940; those who remained, or were later deported, experienced the war at its most direct. The island itself sits within sight of the Normandy coast.
Alderney's coinage rights derive from a 1993 arrangement — its pieces are legal tender but struck to commemorative rather than circulation standards.