Elizabeth II 4th Portrait
Elizabeth II 4th Portrait
Still currently in use, the Queen Elizabeth II 4th Portrait (also known as the "Large Head") initially adorned gold sovereigns in 1998. For the first two years, the coins were issued only as proofs, but in 2000, after a seventeen year absence, The Royal Mint resumed the production of bullions and continues to produce them at the present time.
Ian Rank-Broadley won the honor of designing the portrait for the coin’s obverse, which shows the mature queen facing right and bearing a tiara. The artist’s initials appear right below the portrait’s truncation. She is also surrounded by the words “Elizabeth II Dei Gra” and “Regina Fid Def”, with slight spaces for the point of her tiara and the base of her neck, respectively. Issued for the Golden Jubilee in 2002, the coin’s reverse contained the royal coat of arms, the same design used on the 1989 anniversary sovereign. In every other year, the reverse has retained the ever-present image of George and the Dragon. However, only the 2005 sovereign differs in that on the reverse it features a modern interpretation of St George and the Dragon created by Timothy Noad.
In 2006, The Royal Mint reverted back to the traditional image, but in 2007 and 2008, they commissioned a new die that was intended to restore some of the details lost from Pistrucci’s original over the years. As a result, small but noticeable aspects were changed, like the horse’s tail and the folds of George’s cloak, which led The Royal Mint to once again use original tools in 2009.
Being the most recent releases, Elizabeth II 4th Portrait sovereigns should be free from too much wear and tear. They can also be obtained with relative ease, even though The Royal Mint limited their production to 250,000 in the year 2000 and 100,000 in subsequent years.
Elizabeth II 4th Portrait Gold Sovereigns on eBay
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