Royal Mint series for World War I continues with Albert Ball coin

The Royal Mint on May 27 launched the 2015 six-coin sets in its annual series of £5 coin sets honoring the centennial of World War I. Two of coins honor heroic pilot Albert Ball, left, and the service of animals in war, right.

Images courtesy of the Royal Mint.

The Royal Mint continues to commemorate World War I and the journey from outbreak to armistice.

A new series of £5 coins, announced May 27, kicks off with 2015 silver and gold coins honoring the people, machinery, and even animals that were critical to winning the war effort.

Selfless nurse Edith Cavell and heroic pilot Albert Ball feature on two designs in a set of six, released as part of the Royal Mint’s five-year program.

Each year until 2018, a set of six designs is being released to cover a range of themes: key battles, the armed forces and support services, technological developments of the period, the cultural impact of war, and stories of some of the heroes of the time. The final set will reflect on the armistice and the ongoing legacy of the war.

In addition to the 2015 coins honoring Cavell and Ball (a Victoria Cross winner), the four other 2015 coin designs celebrate animals at war (showing a mule at the center of battle), submarines, the Merchant Navy, and the Battle of Gallipoli. 

Edge lettering on each coin is borrowed from appropriate statues, monuments or literature. 

Various designers created the reverses, but all coin obverses feature the new Jody Clark effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

Two versions of the six coins are available — a Proof .925 fine silver £5 coin and a Proof .9167 fine gold £5 piece.

All of the coins measure 38.61 millimeters in diameter.

The silver coins each weigh 28.28 grams and the gold coins each weigh 39.94 grams.

The silver coins are available in 1,915 sets, at £450 for each set. The gold coins are available in 25 sets, priced at £9,999 each set. 

For more information, visit the Royal Mint website.

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