As of today, September 9th, 2015, Queen Elizabeth II has become the longest-reigning British monarch in history. She passes her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who reigned for over 63 years.
There are a lot of staggering numbers associated with her reign, but I personally think one of the most staggering is how many coins her image has adorned. By one count, over 30 countries either currently or at one time had her image on the obverse of their circulation coins (and this doesn’t include the many countries which have had commemorative coins issued with her image). Over 63 years, the number of coins produced with her image must total in the billions.
During that time, there have been five different portraits used:
Mary Gillick Portrait (1953-1971)
Arnold Machin RA Portrait (1968-1985)
Raphael Maklouf Portrait (1985-1997)
Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS Portrait (1997-2015)
Jody Clark Portrait (2015-)
Long live the Queen of Coins!
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