Whereas under section 3(1)(a), (b), (c), (cc), (cd) and (d) of the Coinage Act 1971 We have power, with the advice of Our Privy Council, by Proclamation to determine the denomination, the design and dimensions of coins to be made at Our Mint, the remedy to be allowed in the making of such coins and their least current weight, to determine the weight and composition of coins other than gold coins or coins of silver of Our Maundy money and to provide for the manner of measurement of the variation from the standard weight for coins, to determine the weight and fineness of certain gold coins:

And Whereas under section 3(1)(ff) of the Coinage Act 1971 We have power, with the advice of Our Privy Council, by Proclamation to direct that any coin shall be legal tender for the payment of any amount:

And Whereas it appears to Us desirable to order that, to commemorate the outbreak of the First World War, there should be made at Our Mint a coin of the denomination of one thousand pounds in gold and a coin of the denomination of five hundred pounds in silver:

We, therefore, in pursuance of the said section 3(1)(a), (b), (c), (cc), (cd), (d) and (ff), and of all other powers enabling Us in that behalf, do hereby, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council, proclaim, direct and ordain as follows:

ONE THOUSAND POUND COIN

1. (1) A new coin of gold of the denomination of one thousand pounds shall be made, being a coin of a standard weight of 1010 grammes, a standard diameter of 100 millimetres, a millesimal fineness of not less than 999, and being circular in shape.

(2) In the making of the said gold coin a remedy (that is, a variation from the standard weight or diameter specified above) shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding the following, that is to say:

(a) a variation from the said standard weight of an amount per coin of 10 grammes; and

(b) a variation from the said standard diameter of 0.20 millimetres per coin.

(3) The variation from the standard weight will be measured by weighing each coin separately.

(4) The least current weight of the said gold coin shall be 995 grammes.

(5) The design of the said gold coin shall be as follows:

‘For the obverse impression Our effigy with the inscription “ELIZABETH ∙ II ∙ D ∙ G · REG ∙ F ∙ D 1000 POUNDS”, and for the reverse a design of British soldiers marching through no man’s land with the figure of a British soldier with rifle and helmet in the foreground and the dates ‘1914 – 1918’ at the base of the coin. The coin will have a graining upon the edge’.

FIVE -HUNDRED POUND COIN

2. (1) A new coin of silver of the denomination of five-hundred pounds shall be made, being a coin of a standard weight of 1010 grammes, a standard diameter of 100 millimetres, a standard composition of not less than 999 parts per thousand fine silver, and being circular in shape.

(2) In the making of the said silver coin a remedy (that is, a variation from the standard weight or diameter specified above) shall be allowed of an amount not exceeding the following, that is to say:

(a) a variation from the said standard weight of an amount per coin of 10 grammes; and

(b) a variation from the said standard diameter of 0.20 millimetres per coin.

(3) The variation from the standard weight will be measured by weighing each coin separately.

(4) The design of the said silver coin shall be as follows:

‘For the obverse impression Our effigy with the inscription “ELIZABETH ∙ II ∙ D ∙ G · REG ∙ F ∙ D 500 POUNDS”, and for the reverse a design of British soldiers marching through no man’s land with the figure of a British soldier with rifle and helmet in the foreground and the dates ‘1914 – 1918’ at the base of the coin. The coin will have a graining upon the edge’.

(5) The said silver coin shall be legal tender for payment of any amount in any part of Our United Kingdom.

3. This Proclamation shall come into force on the twenty-eighth day of May Two thousand and fourteen.

Given at Our Court at Buckingham Palace this twenty-seventh day of May in the year of Our Lord Two thousand and fourteen and in the sixty-third year of Our Reign.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN