Gold Proof 2004 Fifty Pence Piece - Roger Bannister Boxed

Released by the Royal Mint, the 2004 Fifty Pence gold coin was created to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first four-minute mile by the late Roger Bannister. This proof coin comes boxed with a certificate of authenticity and is one of only 1,250 coins issued.

Roger Bannister registered the first sub-4 minute mile on May 6th 1954, with a time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. He repeated the feat two months later at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, where he was involved in a photo finish victory over Australia's John Landy - who became the second man to break the sub-4 minute mile.

The design of Bannister mid-stride with the additional stopwatch was created by James Butler. Like all Royal Mint coins up until 2015 it features the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.