Obverse. Photo © Downies
  • 50 Cents 2005, KM# 746, Australia, Elizabeth II, 60th Anniversary of WWII Victory
  • 50 Cents 2005, KM# 746, Australia, Elizabeth II, 60th Anniversary of WWII Victory
Description

The 2005 Remembrance 50c coin commemorates the 60th Anniversary of World War II. The RAM also released other issues during the year, a one dollar standing for Peace and a Coming Home 20c, fitting accompaniments to this issue.

Obverse

Fourth crowned portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II facing right, wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara.

The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother, Queen Mary, who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969. The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread use on British banknotes and coinage.

Engraver: Ian Rank-Broadley

ELIZABETH II AUSTRALIA 2004
IRB

Reverse

Depicts a cemetery with a digger (the colloquial name for an Australian soldier), a priest and mourners standing solemnly against a background of graves. The denomination FIFTY PENCE is in exergue.

This design was inspired by a photograph in the Australian War Memorial collection of a scene of a burial at El Alamein in 1942.

Engraver: Wojciech Pietranik

WORLD WAR 1939-1945 REMEMBRANCE
FIFTY CENTS

Edge
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Cupronickel
Weight 15.55 g
Diameter 31.5 mm
Thickness 3 mm
Shape polygon
Sides 12
Alignment Medal
Mint
Royal Australian Mint (RAM)

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