Tag: Elizabeth II

Royal Maundy Thursday Coinage

Maundy Coins - Mary Gillick effigy

The word ‘maundy’ derives from the latin ‘mandatum’ which was applied to Christ’s washing of his disciples feet on the day before Good Friday; ‘that ye love one another’ (John XIII 34) British Royalty have taken part in the Maundy ceremony since the 13th century; distributing money, gifts and washing the feet of the poor It was King John who started the Royal Maundy tradition in 1210 when he donated garments, forks, food, and other gifts to the poor of Knaresborough, Yorkshire. Henry IV, around 1400, related the number of Maundy recipients to the age of the Sovereign. And it…

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Beginning Canada Coins – One Cent i

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1 Cent 2002 Elizabeth II

Today I took a bit of time out and sat down with a tub of old pennies. Bliss! We’d put it aside back in 2013. The earliest one was 1952 and the latest was the last – 2012. All of them saved from 2011/2012 circulation. Unfortunately there were a few  with severe bronze disease and it has now spread as it is wont. Tiny patches of bright green here and there.  There’s no time to treat it for a penny so they must go. There’s a fair few gaps in my ‘Date Run’ but there’re lots of Cents in reasonable and even extremely…

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The British Crown struck in New York, 1960

A Crown was struck to celebrate the British Exhibition in New York in 1960. The Royal Mint had a stand at the New York Exhibition on which they were demonstrating coins being struck. The coin was the 1960 crown (or Five Shilings) that had been designed for the occasion. The 70,000 coins actually made at the exhibition were made using a polished die at “prooflike” quality. At the end of the Exhibition all of the unsold ones were bagged up and sent back to Britain – this is why it’s difficult to obtain a pristine specimen without bagmarks. An Uncirculated Crown (with a lot of bagmarks) can…

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A Taku Turtle from Fiji

“This attractive 1 troy ounce .999 fine silver 2 Dollar coin from Fiji features a stylized Hawksbill turtle, also known as the Taku.  This 2012 issue was the last of Fiji silver Taku with Queen Elizabeth on the obverse.  The 40.5mm coin was struck for Fiji by the New Zealand Mint and has a maximum mintage of just 350,000 pieces.” Thank you Joel at joelscoins for text and image I like the compositional curves of the turtle and framing in the round of the coin. I like the spiral swirls in the turtle’s shell. Also the ring-linked bubbles. ~ Julian Ticehurst      

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