1 Pound Centaurea Akamantis - Silver Proof Issue

Part of a broader Cypriot series celebrating endemic plant species, this proof was struck in the final years before Cyprus abandoned the pound entirely for the euro on 1 January 2008. The Centaurea akamantis — a thistle relative found only on the Akamas Peninsula in the island's northwest — takes its name from a region long at the center of disputes over environmental protection versus development, a tension that made the plant's selection quietly pointed.