Issued to mark the centenary of the First World War's outbreak, this piece belongs to a broader Royal Mint commemorative program running across the four-year anniversary period through 2018. The £500 denomination is legal tender but purely notional — no such denomination existed in circulation at any point in British monetary history, and its use here is a relatively recent Royal Mint convention for high-value bullion and proof pieces, calibrated loosely to bullion content rather than any historical precedent.
At just over a kilogram of fine silver in a 100mm format, production tolerances are demanding and strike pressures extreme. Known mintage for this issue was capped at 100 pieces.
Issued to mark the centenary of the First World War's outbreak, this piece belongs to a broader Royal Mint commemorative program running across the four-year anniversary period through 2018. The £500 denomination is legal tender but purely notional — no such denomination existed in circulation at any point in British monetary history, and its use here is a relatively recent Royal Mint convention for high-value bullion and proof pieces, calibrated loosely to bullion content rather than any historical precedent.
At just over a kilogram of fine silver in a 100mm format, production tolerances are demanding and strike pressures extreme. Known mintage for this issue was capped at 100 pieces.