50 Cents - Charles III Flower Fairies 1

The Flower Fairies series originates with Cicely Mary Barker's illustrations, first published in 1923, which paired each fairy figure with a botanically accurate depiction of its corresponding plant. The books remained continuously in print through the twentieth century and the intellectual property passed through several licensing arrangements before reaching the commemorative coin market.

Gold-plated iron — rather than the more common gold-plated copper or brass — keeps production costs low enough to sustain high-volume licensed issues of this type. The Solomon Islands central bank has served as issuing authority for numerous such series with no domestic circulation intent.