The First Sovereign of the Decimal Era
The portraits of ten British monarchs have featured on the obverse of the modern Sovereign, including those depicting Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Five definitive coinage portraits feature on the coins of Elizabeth II’s reign, which began in 1952. Here, we explore the backstory to the first time her second definitive coinage portrait featured on The Sovereign, The Royal Mint’s flagship coin.
The First Sovereigns of the Second Elizabethan Era
Elizabeth II became queen in 1952 upon the death of her father, George VI. Her coronation took place the following year, officially marking the dawn of a second Elizabethan era that would last for more than seven decades. For the coronation, a small number of Sovereign Proof sets were struck to mark the occasion. These coins bore the first definitive coinage portrait of Queen Elizabeth II created by Mary Gillick, a portrait that was struck on British coins until decimalisation.
The Mary Gillick portrait, introduced in 1953.
A New Era for British Coinage
For centuries, the British coinage system consisted of pounds, shillings and pence. In 1961, the UK Government convened a special committee to consider a switch to a decimal currency and on 1 March 1966, the Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan confirmed the new system. Decimal Day was set for 15 February 1971 and demanded a herculean amount of planning and coordination. A new coinage portrait was also required for the decimal currency to help differentiate the new coins from the older ones in circulation.
The Arnold Machin Portrait
Hailing from a large family of pottery workers, Arnold Machin enjoyed a decorated career as an artist and sculptor. Notable appointments included working as a ceramics tutor at the Royal College of Art and serving as Master of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools. In 1965, he was awarded an OBE following the approval of his design for the second definitive coinage portrait of Elizabeth II the year previously.
The Arnold Machin coinage portrait, introduced in 1968 in the UK.
Machin was granted personal sittings by the queen and the monarch greatly admired the quality of the sculptor’s finished portrait, in which he depicted Queen Elizabeth II wearing a tiara – given to the monarch by her grandmother, Queen Mary, instead of a wreath. Machin followed in the footsteps of Elizabeth II’s previous portraitist, Mary Gillick, by avoiding a portrait cut off at the neck which had been the norm on coins issued earlier in the century.
The 1974 Elizabeth II Sovereign
No Sovereigns were struck in the first few years of the decimal era and in 1974, Machin’s coinage portrait graced the ‘chief coin of the world’ for the first time. Interestingly, a 1974 Sovereign was the very last coin to be struck at our premises in Tower Hill, London, before production moved to our current 35-acre site in Llantrisant, South Wales.