The display contains the 1972 crown! This was the only coin issued for general circulation dated 1972.

The crown is in uncirculated (UNC) condition and the item is housed in a display protection case, which can be removed for framing if so desired.

  This would make a great Christmas or Birthday present for an Alex Higgins snooker fan.

Alex Higgins hit the snooker world like the hurricane, which became his nickname, and became the biggest box-office draw the game has ever known. Completely unorthodox, always controversial he was never out of the news, on or off the table. No one had seen anyone like him when he played in the 1972 world championship. He would virtually throw his whole body at the cue ball but could pull off the most amazing shots anyone had seen at that time and people flocked to see him in their thousands whenever he played. Even Jimmy White probably never had quite the drawing power of Alex at his peak.

Born in Belfast, Alex started playing snooker at the age of eleven at a local club, The Jampot, but at 14 and only seven and a half stones, he left for England and a career as a jockey. However, he put on a lot of weight and was released from his apprenticeship without ever having ridden in public. He returned to Belfast and the Jampot and by 1965, aged 16, he had compiled his first maximum break of 147.

In 1968 he won both the All-Ireland and Northern Ireland amateur championships. He wanted to make a living out of the game and so moved to Manchester in 1971 and turned professional.

He entered the 1972 world championships and set the snooker world alight by beating John Spencer 37-32 to become champion at his first attempt. He was just what the game needed. The people loved him and the sponsors rushed to put more money into the game.  Snooker was now ‘on the map’ thanks to Alex’s appeal and, coupled with the emergence of colour television the game made massive progress in terms of its popularity throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s.

The Year That Was 1972...

• On 30 January, in Derry, Northern Ireland, British troops fire on a Republican protest march, resulting in the deaths of 14 people. After this Bloody Sunday massacre, recruitment to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) increases • From 21 to 27 February, US president Richard Nixon visits China, easing some Cold War tensions • On 30 March, Britain takes on direct rule over Northern Ireland • On 4 August, President Idi Amin of Uganda orders the country's Asian community to leave within 90 days • On 5 September, during the summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, 11 Israeli athletes are massacred by Black September Palestinian terrorists, five of whom are gunned down by West German police • On 7 November, US president Nixon is re-elected by a landslide against left- wing Democrat George McGovern • Pocket calculators are first introduced • Richard Leakey discovers a hominid skull in Kenya that is 2.5 million years old, proving that the ancestors of modern human beings go back much further in time than previously suspected • The Apollo 17 space mission of 7-19 December is the last to the moon • American film-maker Francis Ford Coppolla makes The Godfather, an evocative story of Mafia gangsters in the United States • Pop star David Bowie releases the Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars LP •

Sporting 1972...

• Football League Champions were Brian Clough’s Derby County, leaving Leeds United in the runners up spot • Leeds went one better in the FA Cup by defeating Arsenal 1-0 in the final, Allan Clarke scoring the winner • The Grand National winning horse was ‘Well To Do’ • The Cheltenham Gold Cup winning horse was ‘Glencaraig Lady’ • The Epsom Derby winning horse was ‘Roberto’ • Golf's British Open was won by Lee Trevino • Cambridge won the Boat Race by nine ½ lengths over Oxford • Snooker’s World Championship Final ended Alex Higgins (Northern Ireland) 37-32 John Spencer (England) • F1 Champion was Emerson Fittipaldi driving for Lotus • The Wimbledon tennis singles tournament saw victories for Stan Smith of USA (mens) and Billie Jean King of USA (ladies) • American Sport - Super Bowl VI from the Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, Louisiana: Dallas Cowboys 24-3 Miami Dolphins – NBA Championship: Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 New York Knickerbockers – Major League Baseball World Series: Oakland 4-3 Cincinnati (MVP Gene Tenace) •