The Worldwide Usage of the Effigy of Queen Elizabeth II

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To understand how and why the Queen’s effigy is used throughout the world today, we must first look at the hierarchy of countries and territories of which Queen Elizabeth II is monarch.

These fall into four categories:

1] The United Kingdom.

2] The Crown Dependencies.

3] The British Overseas Territories.

4] The Commonwealth Realms.


The Queen also has a role as the Head of the Commonwealth.

 

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

England and Scotland are kingdoms, Wales is a principality, whilst Northern Ireland is neither! There are Scots who object to Queen Elizabeth styling herself “the Second”, since only England, and not Scotland, had a Queen Elizabeth the First.

The Crown Dependencies.

These consist of:

1] Jersey
2] Guernsey
3] The Isle of Man.

These are semi-autonomous, and although, just like the UK, they use the British pound sterling, they are allowed to issue their own local versions of the coins and banknotes.

Guernsey also has its own dependencies: Alderney, Sark, and Herm – the others are either private (one is owned by the reclusive Barclay brothers) or tiny and uninhabited. Jersey and Guernsey and the dependencies are collectively known in Britain as the Channel Islands.

British Overseas Territories.

These are British possessions and were formerly known as “colonies”, but that is not a politically correct term these days.

There are 14 British overseas territories:

1] British Indian Ocean Territory
2] Gibraltar
3] Bermuda
4] The Falkland Islands
5] South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
6] British Antarctic Territory
7] St Helena and its dependencies of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
8] Montserrat
9] The British Virgin Islands
10] The Cayman Islands
11] Turks and Caicos Islands
12] Anguilla
13] The Pitcairn Group of Islands
14] The Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus: Akrotiri and Dhekelia

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The Commonwealth Realms.

These are those independent states of the Commonwealth that have chosen to retain the Queen as their head of state. They were formerly known as the Dominions, but that term is no longer politically correct.

Besides the UK, there are 15 Commonwealth Realms:

1] Australia
2] New Zealand
3] Canada
4] Jamaica
5] Antigua and Barbuda
6] Belize
7] Papua New Guinea
8] St Christopher and Nevis
9] St Vincent and the Grenadines
10] Tuvalu
11] Barbados
12] Grenada
13] The Solomon Islands
14] St Lucia
15] The Bahamas


There are seven Australian external territories; two New Zealand dependent territories: the Ross Dependency (an uninhabited region of Antarctica) and Tokelau; and two New Zealand associated states: Niue, and the Cook Islands. The Queen is also monarch of these.

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It used to be the case, from 1936 onward, that there was a strict numismatic hierarchy in the Empire and Commonwealth, whereby the colonies and crown dependencies were required to use a crowned effigy of the monarch on their coinage, whilst the UK and the Dominions were allowed to depict the monarch uncrowned. This tradition fell into disuse with the creation of Arnold Machin’s famous effigy of the Queen in 1964: the Queen made it known that the effigy should be available to any country or territory that wanted to use it.

To see an illustrated topic on this subject, click on the link below:

Use of the Crowned and Uncrowned Effigies in the Commonwealth

See also its sister topic:

Comments on Use of the Crowned and Uncrowned Effigies in the Commonwealth


We also have the Commonwealth of Nations, of which the Queen is Head – though she is not, of course, monarch of all its member states. If you look at the list of Commonwealth members, you will notice that it includes only independent states and excludes the British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. Rather than reproduce the list here, I will direct you to “The Official Website of the British Monarchy”:

http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/Commonwealthmembers/MembersoftheCommonwealth.aspx

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Now to the modern usage of the Queen’s effigy on the coinage.

The UK

It is a legal requirement that the portrait of the monarch should appear on the obverse of the coinage. This requirement has been followed without exception throughout the reign of QEII.

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The Crown Dependencies

In the case of Jersey and the Isle of Man, the monarch has always appeared on their coinage. However, did you know that the monarch did not appear as the regular obverse on Guernsey’s coins until 1985? Before 1985, the Guernsey coat of arms was used. From 1985 onwards, the Queen’s effigy is used, with a small version of the Guernsey arms to the left of her effigy. The Guernsey authorities made a deliberate decision to use the Queen’s effigy, in an attempt to make Guernsey’s coins more attractive to collectors. Alderney also issues coins bearing the Queen’s effigy, but these are collector coins only.

Interestingly, when the latest effigy of the Queen (by Ian Rank Broadley) was adopted, the Guernsey arms were significantly reduced in size, and they do not even appear on Guernsey's circulation two pound coin.

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British Overseas Territories

Of the British Overseas Territories, some use their own currencies, while some issue only collector coins. However, all of them that do so, or have done so, use the Queen’s effigy on their official issues. Anguilla briefly broke away from British rule in the late 1960s and issued its own unofficial coins, which did not portray the Queen but the island’s unofficial coat of arms.

The currencies of the British Overseas Territories are as follows:

1] The British Virgin Islands and The Turks and Caicos Islands use the U.S. dollar.


2] The following use the UK pound sterling:

     a) British Antarctic Territory

     b) British Indian Ocean Territory

     c) South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

     d) Tristan daCunha


3] The following use the East Caribbean States dollar:

     a) Anguilla

     b) Montserrat

The East Caribbean States are a currency union.


4] Bermuda uses the Bermuda dollar

5] The Cayman Islands use the Caymanian dollar

6] The Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus (Akrotiri and Dhekelia) use the euro

7] The Falkland Islands use the Falkland pound *

8] Gibraltar uses the Gibraltar pound *

9] The Pitcairn Group of Islands uses the New Zealand dollar

10] St. Helena and Ascension use the St Helena pound *


* These separate pound currencies are pegged to the UK pound sterling at a rate of one to one.


NOTE: Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and St Helena and Ascension all use a currency board to produce their individual pound currencies. They all also use the UK pound sterling as their anchor currency. To learn about currency boards, and to understand the technical difference between the UK pound sterling and the pounds of the aforementioned territories, click on the link below:

There are only four basic currency systems in the world

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The Commonwealth Realms

Although the Queen is the head of state of these countries, they are not obliged to use her effigy on their coinage: some do, some do not. When I first saw the modern coins of Barbados and the Bahamas, I knew that they were members of the Commonwealth, but because the obverse of their coins carried their coat of arms and not a portrait of the Queen, I thought they must be republics. This is not the case, however. 

Of the Commonwealth Realms, the following do not carry an effigy of the Queen on their coins: The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, and Papua New Guinea.

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Belize uses the Queen’s effigy on its circulation coins, but in the 1970s and 1980s it issued collector coin sets that used its coat of arms on the obverse, while the reverses depicted exotic designs of local birds that did not appear on their circulation coins. These sets were designed and produced by the Franklin Mint and specifically aimed at collectors. Apart from Belize and Guyana, I know of no other country that has used one set of designs for its collectors and another set for its circulation coins.

So far as I know, Belize is the last country in the world still using the old-fashioned crowned effigy of the Queen, created by Cecil Thomas, on its coins.

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The Commonwealth of Nations

Those members of the Commonwealth that are not Commonwealth Realms still have the right to portray the Queen on their coins in her capacity as the Head of the Commonwealth.  In 1966, the Gambia used the Queen’s effigy on its circulation coins, even though the Gambia had by that time become a republic. Since 1971 it has used either a portrait of its president or its coat of arms on the obverse of its coins, and not an effigy of the Queen.

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Zambia has never used the Queen’s effigy on its circulation coins, but in recent years it has often used her portrait on its collector coins, usually in conjunction with its own coat of arms.
 

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An interesting case is the coinage of the currency union, the East Caribbean States, which carries the effigy of the Queen. The members of that currency union are:

British Overseas Territories

Anguilla
Montserrat

Commonwealth Realms

Antigua and Barbuda
Grenada             
St Christopher and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines

Republic

Dominica


You normally would not expect Dominica, as an independent republic, to use the Queen’s effigy on its coinage. However, since it is a member of the Commonwealth, and the Queen is the Head of the Commonwealth, it is entitled to do so, just as the Gambia and Zambia have done in the past. All the other members of the East Caribbean States have the Queen as their sovereign.

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Even in recent years, there have been new additions to the number of territories that issue coins carrying the Queen's effigy. Unfortunately, most of these have been non-circulating coins aimed at collectors, from uninhabited dependencies of Tristan da Cunha, such as Gough Island and Stoltenhoff Island. Although these particular coins are legal tender, such coins are not taken seriously in the hobby.

To read more about so called "pseudo-coins" such as these, click on the link below:

Pseudo Sets, Pseudo Countries?

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Here is a list of countries and currency unions whose circulation coins have carried, or carry, an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on their obverse.

1]  Australia

2]  Bahamas
3]  Belize
4]  Bermuda
5]  British Eastern Caribbean Territories - Eastern Group *
6]  British Honduras
7]  British West Africa *

8]  Canada
9]  Cayman Islands
10] Ceylon
11] Cook Islands
12] Cyprus

13] East Africa *
14] East Caribbean States *

15] Falkland Islands
16] Fiji

17] Gambia
18] Gibraltar
19] Guernsey

20] Hong Kong

21] Isle of Man

22] Jamaica
23] Jersey

24] Malaya and British Borneo
25] Mauritius

26] New Zealand
27] Nigeria

28] Rhodesia
29] Rhodesia and Nyasaland

30] Saint Helena and Ascension
31] Seychelles
32] Solomon Islands
33] South Africa
34] Southern Rhodesia

35] Tuvalu

36] The United Kingdom

*  These are currency unions, not countries.

Have I missed any?

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Here is a list of countries and territories that have only ever issued collector coins with an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on their obverse.

Please note: although ALL of these coins are from legally recognised territories, and as such are legal and authorised issues, they are CONTROVERSIAL among numismatists for various reasons:

1] They are issued by countries or territories that - with the exception in this list of BARBADOS - do not issue CIRCULATION coins and never have done.

2] Some of these issues, such as those from the Pitcairn Islands, are designed to convey the impression that they are a circulation set, when they never in fact circulate. The Pitcairn Islands, for instance, use the New Zealand dollar - not their own coins - and though these issues are theoretically legal tender, you are highly unlikely ever to see them circulate.

3] Some of these territories, for instance Gough Island, Nightingale Island, and Stoltenhoff Island, which belong to Tristan da Cunha, are UNINHABITED BY HUMANS - therefore there is no reason for coins to be issued in their name.

4] They are commercial products only, aimed at collectors of such items, and as such, SOME of them possess NO INTRINSIC NUMISMATIC VALUE.

5] For all these reasons, many of these issues are regarded by many numismatists as "pseudo-coins" - not real coins at all. To learn more about pseudo-coins, click on the link below:

Pseudo Sets, Pseudo Countries?


Alderney
Antigua and Barbuda
Ascension Island

Barbados
British Antarctic Territory
British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands

Dominica

Grenada

Niue

Pitcairn Islands

Saint Helena
Saint Christopher and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Tokelau
Tristan da Cunha  *
Turks and Caicos Islands


* Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory, has issued official collector sets in the name of three of its uninhabited islands: Gough Island, Nightingale Island and Stoltenhoff Island. These islands have no political sovereignty of their own; the sets do not circulate (only UK coinage is used on Tristan da Cunha) and are issues of Tristan da Cunha.