Maundy money occupies a peculiar constitutional niche: these pieces were struck for annual Royal Maundy distribution, a ceremony in which the sovereign distributes specially minted coin to elderly recipients — one coin of each denomination for each year of the monarch's age. George VI's first Maundy series ran from his coronation year through the final months of the Second World War, meaning recipients in 1940 through 1945 received their alms while London was under blackout or bomb damage.
The .500 fine silver composition, a post-1920 concession to metal economics, distinguishes this from pre-war Maundy issues struck in sterling.
Maundy money occupies a peculiar constitutional niche: these pieces were struck for annual Royal Maundy distribution, a ceremony in which the sovereign distributes specially minted coin to elderly recipients — one coin of each denomination for each year of the monarch's age. George VI's first Maundy series ran from his coronation year through the final months of the Second World War, meaning recipients in 1940 through 1945 received their alms while London was under blackout or bomb damage.
The .500 fine silver composition, a post-1920 concession to metal economics, distinguishes this from pre-war Maundy issues struck in sterling.