5 Pounds Diversion of the Nile

Issued to commemorate the UNESCO-led campaign to relocate the Abu Simbel temples before the rising waters of Lake Nasser submerged them permanently, this coin marks one of the most ambitious archaeological salvage operations ever undertaken. The Aswan High Dam, whose construction necessitated the flooding, was itself a Cold War-era project financed and engineered with Soviet assistance after the United States withdrew funding following Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956.

The temple dismantling began in 1964 — the same year this piece was struck — with over 50 nations contributing to the $80 million effort.