This coin was struck by The Royal Mint in preparation for George VI’s 1949 tour of New Zealand and Australia. As the date neared, it became obvious that the king’s health was deteriorating and that he would not be able to travel. These coins had already been shipped from London to New Zealand in preparation. They are therefore an unusual and highly desirable coin, commemorating a royal tour that never took place.

This silver Crown dates from 1949, the year that saw Laurence Olivier's film Hamlet become the first British film to win a 'Best Picture' Oscar, Britain sign the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO, and the first publication of George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.