2006 Fifty Pence Gold Proof - Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross

For Valour

...For Valour rather than For the Brave, as this would lead to the inference that only those are deemed brave who have got the Cross.

The Award - Interesting Facts

• The youngest Victoria Cross recipient was A Fitzgibbon, Indian Medical Establishment, Taku Forts, China, August 1860, aged fifteen years three months.
• The oldest Victoria Cross recipient was Lieutenant W Raynor, Bengal Veteran Establishment, Indian Mutiny, May 1857, aged sixty-nine.
• There have been four instances of brothers being awarded the Victoria Cross.
• There have been three instances of father and son being awarded the Victoria Cross.
• The largest number of Victoria Crosses to be awarded in a single day was twenty-four at the second relief of Lucknow on 16th November 1857.
• The largest number of Victoria Crosses won in a single action was eleven at Rorke's Drift on 22nd January 1879.
• Since 1916, miniature Victoria Crosses have been worn with evening dress or mess dress in the place of full-size versions.
• Company Sergeant Major F W Hall, Acting Corporal L Clarke and Lieutenant R Shankland, who were all awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War, all happened to live on Pine Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is believed to be the only street in the world in which three VC recipients have lived. the name of the street was changed by the City of Winnipeg to Valour Street and a bronze plaque was mounted on a street lamp in honour of the three men.

The Medal

Mystery Gunmetal

John Glanfield, a historian and author of Bravest of the Brave, to be published next month, claims to have exposed the truth about the metal used to make the awards. It has long been believed that all 1,351 Victoria Crosses awarded have been made of bronze taken from two Russian cannon captured at the siege of Sebastopol and kept in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. By studying historical documents and scientific analysis, Glanfield claims that the Woolwich cannon were not used until 1914, 58 years after the first Victoria Crosses had been produced. The precious ingot disappeared during the Second World War, so a different metal was used for five crosses awarded between 1942 and 1945. There was an accepted legend and no one had researched whether it was true. When something has been the belief for 150 years it becomes accepted as the truth. In the book, he says: "No aspect of the history of the Victoria Cross has been so hotly debated or disputed as the origin of the metal from which it is made. The truth has become fogged by time, myth and misinformation. Part of the myth is that every cross has been cast from the two [Woolwich] cannon. The cannon in Woolwich are Chinese-made, although they have often previously been cited as Russian, and Glanfield says that their origin is an "impenetrable mystery". He said there was no evidence that they had been captured at Sebastopol, the last big battle of the Crimean War, as was often stated. "The Chinese pieces were not the only, or even the first, to contribute VC metal," he said. "An earlier gun provided bronze from the start". "When the metal ran out in December 1914, the Chinese cannon took over. The football-size cascabels [knobs] were sawn off at the neck and melted down for VC production, starting not in 1856 but nearly 60 years and some 560 crosses later."

Obverse - Fourth Portrait

Reverse

Specifications

Notes on Table

Prices & Availability

2006 Gold Proof Fifty Pence 60th Anniversary of the VC - Medal

2006 Gold Proof Fifty Pence 60th Anniversary of the VC - Soldier

2006 Gold Proof Fifty Pence 60th Anniversary of the VC - Pair in Twin Box

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