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500 Dollars - Elizabeth II Vitus Bering
| Issuer | British Virgin Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 2011 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 5000 g |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central design featuring a period sailing vessel depicted in full sail, flanked by navigational instruments including a compass and sextant, evoking the Age of Exploration. A cartographic map is depicted above the ship, referencing Bering's historic expeditions across the North Pacific. The inscription VITUS J. BERING arcs prominently across the design, accompanied by the explorer's associated dates 1681 and 1741, the legends RUSSIA and AMERICA, the mint mark PM, and the denomination 500 DOLLARS in the lower exergue. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
Vitus Bering, a Dane in Russian imperial service, led the Second Kamchatka Expedition of 1733–1743 — one of the most expensive undertakings in 18th-century Russian history, consuming roughly a sixth of the state's annual revenue at its peak. Bering never made it home; he died shipwrecked on the island that now bears his name in December 1741, scurvy-ridden, having confirmed the strait separating Asia from North America that he'd first crossed in 1728.
The British Virgin Islands has no geographic or historical connection to Bering whatsoever. This is a bullion-adjacent commemorative issued purely for the collector market, one of several oversized five-kilo silver pieces the BVI licensed during this period through external minting arrangements.