Great Britain's EU Presidency 1992 - 1993 To commemorate the United Kingdom's Presidency of the Council of Ministers during the second half of 1992 and the completion of the Single European Market which comes into effect on 1st January 1993, the Royal Mint issued a limited quantity of gold proof fifty pence coins.

Obverse - Third Portrait The obverse bears the elegant portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Raphael Maklouf

Reverse
Collectors will recall the commemorative fifty pence pieces of 1973 issued to mark Britain's entry into the European Economic Community. It is particularly appropriate, therefore, that in 1992 the fifty pence should be chosen to bear the historic design symbolising the special bond between the twelve members of the European Community.
This beautifully worked design, by sculptor Mary Milner Dickens, features a conference table seen from above, around which are arranged twelve chairs for the Council of Ministers. The United Kingdom is prominently represented at the head of the table with the table itself showing twelve stars, symbols of the European Community, placed in the geographic positions of the capital cities of the twelve member countries. A network of lines uniting the stars signifies the links of trade and commerce within the Community.

D Day 1944
To commemorate the anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Europe, the Royal Mint issued a limited number of gold proof fifty pence coins.
Plans to liberate Europe began in earnest in the spring of 1943. Under the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the air, the sea, and land might of Britain, the Commonwealth, and the United States as well as units from virtually every occupied country in Europe was to form the largest invasion force even seen. By the spring of 1944 more than three million men had gathered in southern England in readiness for the Normandy landings.
It was realised that an invasion was likely in the summer of 1944 but the exact date and location remained one of the best kept secrets of the War. Thus Operation Overlord, one of the most difficult military operations ever undertaken, was able to begin just after midnight on 6th June 1944 - in the first hour of the day that would forever be known as D-Day.
The Allied invasion force filling the sea and sky, and heading for Normandy on 6th June 1944 is vividly captured on this splendid commemorative coin. The design was created by award winning sculptor John Mills and was inspired by his boyhood recollections of that historic day. Looking up at the sky he saw it filled with distinctively marked planes and realised that the invasion of France was underway.

Obverse - Third Portrait The obverse bears the elegant portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Raphael Maklouf

Reverse The reverse design is by sculptor John Mills, who can remember 6th June 1944 "Planes of all kinds... were thundering overhead. Wave after wave of machines, all heading in one direction, towards where I knew the seaside to be, south." Of course, he was 50 years younger then, but the inspiration from the design comes partly through having been able to experience the events of the time. The theme of the reverse depicts ships and planes taking part in the D-Day landings.

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