Portraits of a Queen – the changing face of Britain’s coinage
Discover a little of the history behind the Queen’s effigy and vote for your favourite portrait.
As well as the 60th Coronation Anniversary, 2013 marks the 60th Anniversary of the Queen’s coinage.
The first Queen Elizabeth II coins were struck in 1953 and since then four different effigies adorned our coins.
1953 – 1967: Mary Gillick
The first coins of Queen Elizabeth’s reign bore Mary Gillick’s portrait of the young Queen, engraved especially for the new coins.
Her uncrowned portrait of the Queen is still used on the Maundy Money distributed each year by Her Majesty.
1968 – 1984: Arnold Machin RA
With the upcoming decimilisation, it was decided to refresh the Queen’s portrait with Arnold Machin’s new sculpture of the Queen. Commissioned in 1964, it first appeared in 1968 on the new 5p and 10p coins. A version of the design with tiara was also introduced on stamps in 1967 and remains to this day.
1985 – 1997: Raphael Maklouf
In creating his new effigy of Her Majesty, Raphael Maklouf aimed “to create a symbol, regal and ageless”.
His “couped” portrait depicts Queen Elizabeth II wearing the royal diadem favoured by her on the way to and from the State Opening of Parliament.
1998 – current: Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS
The current Queen’s head on our coinage was designed in 1997 by Ian Rank-Broadley. Created to fill the full circle of the coin, its larger size was a deliberate response to the smaller 5p and 10p coins in circulation. A noticeably more mature portrayal of Her Majesty, Rank-Broadley aimed to show the Queen with “poise and bearing”.
You can own all four Portraits on original UK Crowns.
Click here for more info about the Portraits of the Queen 4-coin set
I bought the coronation £5 coin and whe I got it there was I booklet showin the presentation case with thatriangular kind shape 50p there are ten off these in the case, when you buy the first one you get the pres/box and when u buy the last 50p you get a curators glove for handling the coins, anyway I got the £5 coin a couple of months ago and still no more coinage arriving has anyone here recieved the rest of the collection I’ve mentioned
Thank you pete Moran
Hi Pete
Our Customer Service team will contact you directly about this.
Sorry for the delay in coming back to you.
The Westminster Collection
This is very similar to The Royal Mint’s blog article on this topic which featured a stunning infographic.
http://blog.royalmint.com/the-changing-face-of-british-coins-60-years-of-the-queens-coinage/
Hi Jim – we love it too. If only £5 would still buy us 55 pints of beer!