New Face for British Coins
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015March 3, 2015
At a ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery in London yesterday, a new portrait of Elizabeth II, the queen of the United Kingdom, was unveiled. The portrait will be used on the front (obverse) side of coins struck by the Royal Mint. The portrait’s artist, Jody Clark, is the first Royal Mint worker in more than 100 years to have an image, known as an effigy, selected to be struck on British coins.
This portrait is the fifth to be created for Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 1952. The first effigy, by sculptor Mary Gillick, was struck in 1953, the year of Elizabeth’s coronation. It shows a very young queen wearing a laurel wreath. This is the only earlier portrait of the queen that is still used on coins today, as this image is used on Maundy money (money distributed by the queen on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday). The most recent portrait shows a mature queen wearing the diamond diadem (crown) she wore at her coronation and a small smile.
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