Variations of Arnold Machin's effigy of Queen Elizabeth II

[<k>]

Machin's effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

The UK parliament voted in 1960 to move towards decimalisation of the currency.

One of the tasks involved was to create a new effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, especially for the decimal coins.

This would help to distinguish them from the older coins.


In 1963 Arnold Machin designed the effigy that later appeared on the UK's first decimal coins.

The effigy also appeared the coins of various Commonwealth countries.

Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was the first country to adopt the portrait in 1964.

[<k>]

Some of the variations of the effigy that Arnold Machin created in 1963.

The images are copyright of The Royal Mint Museum.

[<k>]

A final group of variations, also from the year 1963.

The images are copyright of The Royal Mint Museum.