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25 Pence - Elizabeth II Napoleon on His Death Bed
| Issuer | Saint Helena |
|---|---|
| Year | 2013 |
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| Currency | Pound (1976-date) |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing draped bust of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a pearl-drop earring, pearl necklace, and ornate crown, rendered in fine relief against a mirror-polished field. The effigy is executed in a mature portrait style with detailed hair and regalia. The legend ELIZABETH II arcs along the left periphery and ST. HELENA along the right, both separated by the beaded border. The date 2013 appears in the lower exergue below the portrait. |
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| Reverse description | The reverse features a colorized, multi-layered compositional design commemorating the Napoleonic Wars. A color-printed scene depicting Napoleon Bonaparte on his death bed, surrounded by attendants, occupies the upper left of the field, rendered after a period painting. To the right, an oval cameo-style raised portrait of Napoleon in military uniform with epaulettes and decorations is set against the polished field. In the lower portion, an engraved architectural rendering of Longwood House, Napoleon's residence and place of death on Saint Helena, spans the width of the coin. The inscriptions THE NAPOLEONIC WARS arc across the upper field in prominent lettering, with decorative scrollwork flanking the word THE, and TWENTY FIVE PENCE appears along the lower border above the edge. |
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| Additional information |
Napoleon died on Saint Helena on 5 May 1821, and the island's connection to his final exile has driven a steady commemorative cottage industry ever since. He arrived in 1815 following his defeat at Waterloo and spent six years under the watch of Governor Hudson Lowe, a relationship so hostile that Lowe was widely blamed — unfairly or not — for the conditions that hastened Napoleon's death at 51.
The cause of death remains disputed. Stomach cancer was the official British conclusion; arsenic poisoning, whether deliberate or chronic from wallpaper pigment in the damp Longwood House, has had serious forensic support since hair sample analysis in the 1960s.