Intended as a ‘tonic for the nation’, and to lift the country’s spirits following the end of the Second World War, the Festival of Britain was a spectacular cultural event to showcase British manufacturing and design. To celebrate the festival, we released a commemorative crown in 1951. This was one of only two crown types issued during the reign of George VI, with the other released in 1937 to mark the king’s coronation). Commonly referred to as the ‘Festival of Britain crown’, it features Humphrey Paget’s portrait of the monarch on the obverse and Benedetto Pistrucci’s St George and the dragon design on the reverse.