In 2009 the Royal Mint released a special Limited Issue Piedfort Silver Proof 4 Coin Set all struck in solid .925 Sterling Silver.
The collection comprises the new £5 Five Pound Coin celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Accession of Henry VIII, two £2 Two Pound Coins celebrating the Anniversaries of the Births of Robert Burns and Charles Darwin, together with a Kew Gardens 50p Fifty Pence piece marking the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.
All the coins in the collection share the obverse of Ian Rank Broadley's majestic portrait of Her Majesty, the Queen.
These legal tender coins have been struck to proof quality using specially prepared dies and highly polished blanks.
Piedforts are coins which have been specially struck on thicker than normal blanks.
As their name suggests they are closely associated with France, where from the twelfth century they were apparently issued by the Kings as presentation pieces.
In Britain the practise of striking piedforts is later and less frequent, but medieval and Tudor examples are known.