50 Pence - Elizabeth II Winston Churchill

Issued to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Churchill's death in January 1965, this Guernsey piece is one of dozens of commemorative 50p-format coins the island has produced for the collector market — a revenue stream that has little to do with circulating currency and everything to do with the enduring commercial appeal of Churchill's image. Guernsey held a particular connection: Churchill visited the island after liberation in 1945, one of his few postwar trips outside mainland Britain before the election that removed him from office.