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Edward VIII's Coronation
The planned coronation of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom was scheduled to take place at Westminster Abbey on 12 May 1937, a date that had been selected and widely publicised well in advance. In anticipation of the historic event, extensive preparations were underway, and a variety of commemorative souvenirs had already been produced and made available for sale. However, the coronation never occurred. On 11 December 1936, Edward abdicated the throne amid a constitutional crisis triggered by his determination to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite and divorcée. His decision met with strong political and public resistance, ultimately leading to his renunciation of the throne. The abrupt cancellation of the coronation left manufacturers and retailers with large stocks of now-obsolete memorabilia, and coins bearing Edward’s image, which were scheduled for release in January 1937, were withdrawn and melted down. Edward's brother George VI and sister-in-law Elizabet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey since 1100. Although the origins of the church are obscure, an abbey housing Benedictine monks was on the site by the mid-10th century. The church got its first large building from the 1040s, commissioned by King Edward the Confessor, who is buried inside. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III. The monastery was dissolved in 1559, and the church was made a royal peculiar – a Church of England church, accountable directly to the sovereign – by Elizabeth I. The abbey, the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 becaus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of Government of the United Kingdom, the national government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. London grew rapidly 19th-century London, in the 19th century, becoming the world's List of largest cities throughout history, largest city at the time. Since the 19th cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's official maker of British coins. It is currently located in Llantrisant, Wales, where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclusive contract to supply the nation's coinage. As well as minting circulating coins for the UK and international markets, The Royal Mint is a leading provider of precious metal products. The Royal Mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for the Kingdom of England, all of Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and nations across the Commonwealth. The Royal Mint operated within the Tower of London for several hundred years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court, where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world in decimalising its currency, the Mint moved from London to a new 38-acre (15 ha) plant in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sovereign (British Coin)
The sovereign is a British gold coin with a face value, nominal value of one pound sterling (£1) and contains of pure gold. Struck since 1817, it was originally a Currency in circulation, circulating coin that was accepted in Britain and elsewhere in the world; it is now a bullion coin and is sometimes mounted in jewellery. In addition, circulation strikes and proof coin, proof examples are often collected for their numismatic value. In most recent years, it has borne the design of Saint George and the Dragon on the obverse and reverse, reverse; the initials () of the designer, Benedetto Pistrucci, are visible to the right of the date. The coin was named after the English gold sovereign, which was last minted about 1603, and originated as part of the Great Recoinage of 1816. Many in Parliament believed a one-pound coin should be issued rather than the 21-shilling guinea (British coin), guinea that was struck until that time. The Master of the Mint, William Wellesley-Pole, 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proof Coinage
Proof coinage refers to special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the die (manufacturing), dies (as in demonstrating that something is true) and for archival purposes. In modern times, proofs are often struck in greater numbers, especially for coin collecting, coin collectors (numismatists). Nearly all countries have issued proof coinage. Preparation of a proof striking usually involved polishing of the dies. They can usually be distinguished from normal circulation coins by their sharper rims and design, as well as much smoother "fields"— the blank areas not part of the coin's design. The dies for making modern proof coins are often treated with chemicals to make certain parts of the design take on a frosted appearance, with the polished fields taking on a mirror finish. Several other methods have been used in the past to achieve this effect, including sand blasting the dies, and matte proofs. Proof coins of the early 19th century even appear to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loonie
The loonie (), formally the Canadian one-dollar coin, is a gold-coloured Canadian coin that was introduced in 1987 and is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint at its facility in Winnipeg. The most prevalent versions of the coin show a common loon, a bird found throughout Canada, on the reverse and Queen Elizabeth II, the nation's head of state at the time of the coin's issue, on the obverse. Various commemorative and specimen-set editions of the coin with special designs replacing the loon on the reverse have been minted over the years. Beginning in December 2023, a new version featuring King Charles III entered circulation, to replace the version featuring Elizabeth II. The coin's outline is an 11-sided Reuleaux polygon. Its diameter of and its 11-sidedness match that of the already-circulating Susan B. Anthony dollar in the United States, and its thickness of is a close match to the latter's . Its gold colour differs from the silver-coloured Anthony dollar; however, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth Realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations that has the same constitutional monarch and head of state as the other realms. The current monarch is King Charles III. Except for the United Kingdom, in each of the realms the monarch is represented by a governor-general. The phrase ''Commonwealth realm'' is an informal description not used in any law. , there are 15 Commonwealth realms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, Realm of New Zealand, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom. While the Commonwealth of Nations has 56 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, independent member states, only these 15 have Charles III as head of state. He is also Head of the Commonwealth, a non-constitutional role. The notion of these states sharing the same person as their monarch traces back to 1867 when Cana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Threepence (British Coin)
The British threepence piece, usually simply known as a threepence, ''thruppence'', or ''thruppenny bit'', was a denomination of sterling coinage worth of one pound or of one shilling. It was used in the United Kingdom, and earlier in Great Britain and England. Similar denominations were later used throughout the British Empire and Commonwealth countries, notably in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The sum of three pence was pronounced variously , or , reflecting different pronunciations in the various regions of the United Kingdom. The coin was often referred to in conversation as a , or bit. Before Decimal Day in 1971, sterling used the Carolingian monetary system, under which the largest unit was a pound divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. The brass threepence coin was withdrawn in 1971 due to decimalisation and replaced by the decimal new penny, with 2.4''d'' being worth 1p. Early threepences The three-pence (3d) coin first appeared in Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other means of payment used to resolve debts and exchange good (economics), goods. The earliest forms of money used by people are categorised by collectors as "odd and curious", but the use of other goods in barter exchange is excluded, even where used as a circulating currency (e.g., cigarettes or instant noodles in prison). As an example, the Kyrgyz people used horses as the principal currency unit, and gave small change in sheepskin, lambskins; the lambskins may be suitable for numismatic study, but the horses are not. Many objects have been used for centuries, such as Cowry, cowry shells, precious metals, Cocoa beans#History, cocoa beans, Rai stones, large stones, and Gemstone, gems. Etymology Firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Cypher
In modern heraldry, a royal cypher is a monogram or monogram-like device of a country's reigning Monarch, sovereign, typically consisting of the initials of the monarch's name and title, sometimes interwoven and often surmounted by a Crown (heraldry), crown. Such a cypher as used by an emperor or empress is called an imperial cypher. Royal cyphers appear on some government buildings, impressed upon royal and state documents, and are used by Ministry (government department), governmental departments. They may also appear on other governmental structures built under a particular ruler. Commonwealth realms The use of a royal cypher in the Commonwealth realms originated in the United Kingdom, where the public use of the royal initials dates at least from the early Tudor period, and was simply the initial of the sovereign with, after Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII's reign, the addition of the letter 'R' for or (Latin for "king" and "queen" respectively). The letter 'I' for was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitutional Crisis
In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the constitution, political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variations to this definition. For instance, one describes it as the crisis that arises out of the failure, or at least a strong risk of failure, of a constitution to perform its central functions. The crisis may arise from a variety of possible causes. For example, a government may want to pass a law contrary to its constitution; the constitution may fail to provide a clear answer for a specific situation; the constitution may be clear, but it may be politically infeasible to follow it; the government institutions themselves may falter or fail to live up to what the law prescribes them to be; or officials in the government may justify avoiding dealing with a serious problem based on narrow interpretations of the law. Specific examples include th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
