Australia says goodbye to the Broadley effigy of QEII with the debut of the new Jody Clark portrait

After a couple of years, we’re finally seeing more countries start to use the latest Jody Clark effigy of the Queen, but with a twist. The design we’re all now familiar with thanks to its use on all new Royal Mint coins of the last two years, is called a couped portrait. That’s one that depicts just the head and a small portion of the neck. This will be used exclusively on actual British coinage. For Commonwealth countries that also depict the Queen on their obverse, a version of the Clark effigy with the shoulders and a necklace restored (called uncouped) has been made available. It’s fundamentally the same portrait except for the below-the-neck additions. This is the first Australian coin to use this effigy, and likely the last to feature the veteran Ian Rank Broadley version.

The coin itself is a simple 11.66 gram fine-silver issue and has a mintage of 5,000 pieces. It will ship in a box along with a certificate of authenticity. The selling price is set at $60.00 AUD and the mint is already claiming limited availability – no doubt because this one will have huge general public appeal in Oz. A simple coin, but an entirely appropriate one for so fundamental a change. Our slider image should give you a good opportunity to compare them.

REVERSE: The coin’s reverse depicts the original Ian Rank Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, surrounded by the coin title and the denomination

OBVERSE: This features the new couped effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by Jody Clark. It is surrounded by inscriptions stating the date and the issuer.