Hanover. Prince of Wales Albert Edward, AE Commemorative Medallion. 1841-1901.

Facing profile of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a Tudor crown / crowned royal monogram of EIIR with the monarchs name and date of coronation around the edge, the ribbon is dark red with two narrow blue stripes in the centre and narrow white edges, with original ladies bow ribbon. 127gr total, case 93mm

Brilliant Uncirculated, toned.

Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, collector.

The 1953 Coronation Medal was made to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on the 2nd June 1953. For Coronation and Jubilee medals, the practice up until 1977 was that United Kingdom authorities decided on a total number to be produced, then allocated a proportion to each of the Commonwealth countries and Crown dependencies and possessions. More than 153,000 medals were issued and the award of these medals was then at the discretion of the local government authority, who were free to decide who got a medal and why.

French Republic around head of Marianne facing right / National Order of Merit, December 3 1963, around set of crossed tricolores, designed by Max Léognany, manufactured by the Monnaie de Paris and the Arthus Bertrand firm. 100gr total, case 92mm

Good Extremely Fine.

Acquired on the UK art market; Property of an Essex, UK, collector.

The National Order of Merit was established on December 3, 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. It was created as an effort to streamline the growing number of orders in France, as well as to re-establish the pre-eminence of the Legion of Honour.

Silver Proof Three-Coin Collection, FDC Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Europe, to mark the Anniversary of the D-Day Landings, two countries have joined forces with the United Kingdom to form a superb three-coin silver collection containing from France a one franc piece, from the United States of America a one dollar coin and from the United Kingdom a fifty pence coin. 258gr total, case 16.5cm

Proof.

Acquired on the UK art market; Property of a Essex, UK, collector. Accompanied by two certificates of authenticity issued by the Royal mint and one from Monnaie de Paris.

'Operation Overlord’, the Allied invasion of Europe, was undoubtedly the greatest amphibious operation ever undertaken in the history of warfare. To Winston Churchill writing to President Roosevelt, it was 'by far the greatest thing we have ever attempted'. Its outstanding success was to spell the beginning of the end of Nazi oppression in Europe. Almost from the fall of France in 1940, plans began for her liberation and by the spring of 1944 more than three million troops had assembled in southern England in readiness for the landings on Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, the five Normandy beaches which covered a fifty mile front between Le Havre and Cherbourg. The exact date and location of the planned invasion was one of the best kept secrets of the war and Operation Overlord was able to begin after midnight on 6 June 1944, in the first hours of that 'longest day' that would forever be known as D-Day. The successful assault on the five beaches, the fierce battles that followed and the Allied breakout into France led to the victorious liberation of Paris on 25 August. By September most of France was free and within a year western Europe too, was free.