2 Pounds - Elizabeth II Gunpowder Plot, Silver Piedfort

Issued to mark the 400th anniversary of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, this piedfort was struck the same year the British government was quietly debating new anti-terrorism legislation — an irony not lost on collectors at the time. Piedforts, struck at double the standard thickness on specially prepared planchets, have been a Royal Mint commemorative tradition since their revival in 1982.

Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators came within hours of detonating 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords on 5 November.