25 Rupees The Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross commemorated here was instituted by Queen Victoria in January 1856, backdated to cover acts of valor from the Crimean War. The cross itself is famously cast from the bronze of Russian cannon captured at Sevastopol — a detail that has been disputed but largely confirmed by Royal Mint and Ministry of Defence records. Seychelles, as a Commonwealth nation, retained the right to issue VC commemoratives alongside other Commonwealth mints, though the 1996 series was produced during a period when the Central Bank was aggressively expanding its collector coin program.