1998 Turks and Caicos 5-crowns

[villa66]

This 1998 5-crown piece from the Turks and Caicos Islands measures c.39mm in diameter and weighs 27.20g. These are my own measurements, because I found no entry for this coin in the 2012 Krause Standard Catalog, and still find no entry for the coin in the 2016 edition.

The purpose of this large copper-nickel commemorative is obvious: to mark the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, who was born in 1961 and died in 1997.

“Goodbye England’s Rose,” sang Elton John in “Candle in the Wind 1997.”

But her former mother-in-law still dominates the obverse. A good woman and a great Queen, but this coin remembers a moment that was not one of her finest.

v.