25 Pence - Elizabeth II Napoleon on Board HMS Bellerophon - silver plated

Saint Helena issued this piece to mark the bicentennial of Napoleon's exile to the island following Waterloo. HMS Bellerophon carried him from Rochefort to Torbay in 1815, where he remained aboard while British authorities debated his fate — crowds of curious onlookers rowed out daily to catch a glimpse. He never set foot on English soil. The decision to send him to Saint Helena rather than allow European imprisonment was driven largely by fear that proximity to the continent made escape too plausible.

Silver-plated copper-nickel, not silver — a distinction the packaging on these issues does not always make obvious at point of sale.