Issued to mark the April 2011 marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, this piece is one of a wave of commemoratives produced by British Crown Dependencies exploiting their right to issue legal tender while facing no obligation to actually circulate it. Alderney, with a resident population of around 2,000, has long leveraged that status into a prolific commemorative program aimed squarely at collector markets rather than islanders' pockets.
At a kilogram of sterling silver, production costs alone made circulation an absurdity from the outset.
Issued to mark the April 2011 marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, this piece is one of a wave of commemoratives produced by British Crown Dependencies exploiting their right to issue legal tender while facing no obligation to actually circulate it. Alderney, with a resident population of around 2,000, has long leveraged that status into a prolific commemorative program aimed squarely at collector markets rather than islanders' pockets.
At a kilogram of sterling silver, production costs alone made circulation an absurdity from the outset.