The artist behind the first coins to be minted featuring a portrait of the King has revealed the inspiration for his design. Martin Jennings spent over a year working on the portrait of Charles, alongside experts from the Royal Mint.
He used portraits taken of Charles to mark his 70th birthday in 2018 to create the image of the King. He then chose the typeface and layout of the inscription with designers at the official coin maker in Llantrisant, south Wales.
Mr Jennings said he used near century-old coins featuring previous kings - who traditionally appear uncrowned - as a reference point. “I was inspired by effigies of George VI and Edward VIII from the 1930s,” he told the PA news agency.
“My mother gave me a little sack of coins which she had collected as a child and I looked at those. There were these lovely big old pennies with the king of them.
"I love to think of them rattling through people’s pockets before the Second World War. Each of those coins represents a purchase and a transfer, it makes me wonder how many stories are attached to each coin.”
Production of the coins at the Royal Mint has begun. Workers at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, south Wales, will produce 9.6 million copies of the coin to mark the Queen’s death at the age of 96.
In tribute to the Queen, the reverse of the 50p features the design that originally appeared on coins to commemorate her coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953. Mr Jennings said he worked in “close collaboration” with experts at the Royal Mint to create Charles’ portrait on the front of the coins.
Mr Jennings' initials, MJ, feature in tiny letters by the King’s neck on the new coin. He described seeing them in person at the Royal Mint site as “astonishing”, with so much work and skill distilled into a small coin that would be reproduced millions of times.
The artist officially started production of 50 pence coins at the Royal Mint’s site on Thursday. A total of 9.6 million of the coins will be initially struck and will begin appearing in the public’s change from December.
