Pobjoy Mint is delighted to announce the release of a new coin on behalf of the British Antarctic Territory which features the new Halley VI Research Station.

Britain’s latest Antarctic Research Station became fully operational in February 2013, signalling a new dawn for 21st Century polar research. Opening one hundred years after Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Antarctic expeditions, the new state-of-the-art research facility demonstrates the UK’s ambition to remain at the forefront of scientific endeavour.

Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Halley VI Research Station is set to become an icon for British science, architecture and engineering.

The new research station, which replaces the 20-year old Halley V facility, is the sixth to be built on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf.

The first station, occupied in 1957 for a Royal Society expedition during the International Geophysical Year, established the region as an important natural laboratory for studying the Earth’s magnetic field and the near-space atmosphere. It was data from Halley that led to the 1985 BAS discovery of the ozone hole.

The design on the coin itself features a design of Halley VI underneath the Aurora Australis while the obverse of the coin carries an effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS.  Available in Cupro Nickel and Proof Sterling Silver, each coin is detailed to perfection with the precious metal versions struck four times to attain the highest quality 'proof' finish.

Country: British Antarctic Territory
Data of issue: December, 2013
Face value: 2 pounds
Metal: Silver .925 / Cupro Nickel 
Weight: 28,28 g
Diameter: 38,6 mm
Quality: Proof / UNC
Mintage: 10 000 pcs / 50 000 pcs