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25 Pounds - Elizabeth II Duke of Wellington
| Issuer | Guernsey |
|---|---|
| Year | 2002 |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing effigy of Queen Elizabeth II wearing the George IV State Diadem, with curled hair and a draped neckline, as rendered by Ian Rank-Broadley. The portrait is surrounded by the circumferential legend reading 'ELIZABETH II BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY' with the date '2002' at the lower right. The engraver's initials 'IRB' appear in small characters below the truncation of the bust. The design follows Rank-Broadley's fourth definitive portrait of the Queen, widely used on Commonwealth coinage from 1998 onward. |
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| Reverse description | A composite scene depicting Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, in the foreground as a confident military figure shown in right-facing bust view, wearing a high-collared uniform with epaulettes. Behind him, a detailed battle or campaign scene unfolds across the middle ground, featuring cavalry on horseback, artillery pieces, and soldiers in formation suggestive of the Napoleonic Wars. The denomination '25 POUNDS' appears prominently in the upper central field, with the legend '1769 - THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON - 1852' arcing along the upper border, recording his birth and death years. The overall composition effectively merges portraiture with historical narrative in a richly detailed low-relief design. |
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| Additional information |
Issued in the bicentenary year of Wellington's first major independent command, the 1802 appointment that set his career on its definitive trajectory before the Deccan campaigns. Guernsey's gold commemorative program in this period leaned heavily on British military figures, a commercially driven niche the island's treasury exploited aggressively through the late 1990s and early 2000s. The .917 fineness matches traditional sovereign alloy — a deliberate choice to anchor the piece within a familiar collecting framework rather than issue at a purer standard.