50 Pence - Elizabeth II WWI - Eastern Front

Guernsey's commemorative program for the WWI centenary produced a sprawling series of fifty-pence pieces, each assigned to a distinct theater or campaign. The Eastern Front issue is among the more historically loaded in the set — by 1917, the collapse of the Russian Imperial Army and the subsequent Treaty of Brest-Litovsk effectively handed Germany a victory in the east, freeing roughly a million troops for redeployment to France before American forces could arrive in strength.

Gold-plated copper issues of this type are notorious for inconsistent plating adhesion at the rim, a known production characteristic of the format rather than a handling defect.