5 Pounds - Elizabeth II Prince Charles, Gold plated

Alderney, the smallest of the three principal Channel Islands with its own coining authority, has issued commemorative crowns under the Bailiwick of Guernsey's legal framework since the 1990s. This piece marks Prince Charles's 70th birthday, an event around which the Royal Mint and several Crown Dependencies issued competing commemoratives simultaneously — a reminder of how fractured the UK commemorative market had become by the late 2010s.

The selective rhodium plating, applied over gold-plated copper-nickel, is a finishing technique that became fashionable among bi-metallic and multi-finish commemoratives in the 2010s, intended to create contrast between surface areas rather than serve any preservation function.