Royal Mint strikes first coins for King featuring image of the monarch on his 70th birthday

The Royal Mint has struck the first coins featuring King Charles.

The portrait, inset left, was designed by British artist Martin Jennings based on an image taken for the monarch’s 70th birthday. 

The King faces left – the opposite direction to his late mother, as is traditional. 

What’s more, kings, unlike queens, do not wear crowns. Some 9.6million coins will enter circulation in December.

In tribute to the late Queen, the 50 pence coin’s reverse, inset right, shows the design marking her 1953 coronation, with the Royal Arms and the home nations’ emblems – a rose, a thistle, a shamrock and a leek. 

Old coins will still be legal tender, to be replaced as they become worn.

Historically, it has been common for coins featuring different monarchs to be used at the same time and this will now happen with coins of the late Queen and Charles. 

Kevin Clancy, director of the Royal Mint Museum, said: ‘For many people this will be the first time in their lives that they have seen a new monarch appear on money. 

‘It represents the biggest change to UK coinage since decimalisation and will usher in a new era where the coins of Queen Elizabeth II and Charles co-circulate in the UK. 

‘The new memorial 50 pence marks a moment in history and honours a landmark reign that lasted for 70 years.’

The coins will be made on demand in line with the wishes of the King and the late Queen, who asked for minimal waste during the process. 

Rebecca Morgan, director of collector services at the Royal Mint, confirmed that ‘nothing is removed or changed just for change’s sake’. 

‘It wasn’t unusual to see two or three different monarchs on coins before decimalisation,’ she said. 

‘As a result of decimalisation, most people under the age of 50 only ever have seen Queen Elizabeth II in their pockets.’

The 50 pence coin was chosen as it is one of the most popular for people to start collecting. 

‘I think it is really poignant that the King’s first coins are in tribute to his late mother,’ Ms Morgan added. 

‘The only difference on the reverse of the coin is the date on either side of the leek, which is 2022 rather than 1953.’

It takes between 18 months to two years to design a coin, with the monarch personally signing off each one. 

Before her death, the Queen signed off a number of coins – including a Harry Potter commemorative series – and production of these will continue. 

This will mean that two of the Harry Potter series will feature the Queen, with the final two bearing the portrait of the King. 

Production of coins with the Queen’s portrait will conclude by the end of the year. 

Acclaimed British artist Martin Jennings, who usually works in bronze and stone, designed the official portrait of Charles to be struck onto coins. 

In the portrait, Charles faces to the left, the opposite direction to his mother. 

This is because tradition states monarchs face the opposite way to their predecessors on coinage. 

Tradition also dictates that Kings do not wear crowns in their portraits on coins, while Queens are pictured crowned. 

Mr Jennings worked with images of Charles taken to mark his 70th birthday and began by drawing his design on paper, before creating a model in plaster. 

‘It is extremely painstaking work with microns of material,’ he said. 

‘It has to be an absolute likeness. It is a portrait of the monarch but also of the individual.’ 

The completed plaster cast was then handed to experts at the Royal Mint, where it was digitally reduced to fit the size of each coin denomination. 

‘It has been a big design challenge,’ Mr Jennings said. ‘The placing of everything is exactly precise, such as the spacing between the letters, the proximity with the head. 

‘It is a huge honour. It is extraordinary to think that the smallest piece of work that I have ever done is that one that is going to be reproduced in the most multiples.’

Previous works by Mr Jennings include a sculpture of poet Sir John Betjeman at St Pancras Station, one of nurse Mary Seacole by Westminster Bridge and a bronze bust of the Queen Mother at St Paul’s Cathedral. 

Mr Jennings, who officially started production of the 50p coins at the Royal Mint, described seeing them in person as ‘astonishing’. 

‘So many are so quickly produced and they are all so perfect, it is remarkable,’ he said. 

To make the 9.6 million coins, four presses will be running for 16 hours a day at the Royal Mint’s site. 

Each press can strike 400 coins per minute, making around 20,000 coins an hour. 

The coins are checked and counted before being packed into cartons of 100,000, which are then sent to banks and sorting offices across the country.