2001 Gold Proof Crown Five Pounds - Victorian Anniversary

The 2001 Victorian Anniversary Gold Proof Five Pounds Piece (£5) was issued by the Royal Mint to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria.

The reverse design features a classic portrait of the young Queen Victoria based on the Penny Black postage stamp wIth a ‘V’ representing Victoria, and taking the form of railway lines and in the background the iron framework of the Crystal Palace (Designed by Mary Milner-Dickens).

Queen Elizabeth II’s fourth portrait can be seen on the obverse of the coin (Designed by Ian Rank-Broadley).

The gold £5 crown is made of 22 carat gold, and weighs 39.94 grams. It has a diameter of 38.61mm, and is housed in its original Royal Mint acrylic capsule. The coin is presented in its Royal Mint green velvet case, complete with outer card sleeve, accompanied with an individually numbered certificate of authenticity.

Only 2,098 2001 Victorian Anniversary gold proof five pounds pieces were issued by the Royal Mint.

Two different gold versions were minted in 2001, the standard gold proof, and the frosted gold proof. The frosted gold proof five pounds, also referred to as the matt gold proof five pounds features a frosted field, with a highly polished royal portrait on the obverse. The frosted gold proof crown was only issued within the 2001 Victoria Anniversary gold proof collection (crown plus 4 sovereigns), and has a small mintage of 750.

The coin would have originally been issued with a numbered certificate of authenticity (COA).