How we saw The Queen
Queen Elizabeth's image was perhaps the most widely reproduced image in the world. During her reign she appeared on more currencies than any other living figure. Today, the Queen appears on 50% of all banknotes depicting women. Since her birth, we estimate there have been 30 portraits used on banknotes featuring Queen Elizabeth's likeness.
De La Rue wishes to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II by sharing depictions of her image at different points in her reign.
Left and centre: These images were selected for the reverse of the 2002 £5 Golden Jubilee commemorative note, issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The portrait on the left was created from several source images. The original image with the Queen facing to the right was captured in 1952 by then court photographer, Dorothy Wilding. This image was engraved by Stephen Mathews, De La Rue, for the £5 commemorative note. An earlier engraving of the second portrait was used in the 1960s on notes from the Bahamas and Jamaica.
Right: In celebration of Jersey's 800 years of continuous loyalty to the Crown, the Jersey Heritage Trust commissioned a holographic portrait of the Queen in 2004 (right). This was a collaboration between the artist Chris Levine and the holographer Rob Munday.
The image was engraved by Stephen Mathews and appears on the front of the 2012 Jersey £100 as both the feature image and within the holographic stripe.
Left: The original portrait by Pietro Annigoni was a private commission by the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and was unveiled in 1956. It is now displayed in Fishmongers' Hall, London. The portrait saw two engravings created, the first by Bradbury Wilkinson was used on banknotes from the Isle of Man, Malta, Rhodesia, Trinidad & Tobago and the Seychelles. The second engraving from De La Rue featured on notes from Fiji, East Caribbean States, Jersey and Mauritius between 1963 - 1979.
Right: De La Rue's engraving of the portrait captured by Anthony Buckley (circa 1962) featured on the Solomon Islands banknotes between 1977-1981. An earlier version of this engraving featured on the Canadian $1 and $2 in 1973 and on the $20 in 1979.
Left: The original portrait was a photograph taken during a Royal Tour to India and Pakistan in 1961. The engraving has featured on banknotes used by Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Jersey and New Zealand.
Centre: This engraving was taken from a portrait painted by Norman Hepple in 1978. The original painting hangs in the entrance to the Jersey States Chamber in the States Building, St. Helier, Jersey. This engraving featured on Jersey's banknotes from 1989 up to 2010.
Right: Taken from a photograph by Peter Grugeon as part of the 1977 Silver Jubilee events. An earlier engraving by Bradbury Wilkinson featured on New Zealand and Isle of Man notes during the 1980s. The later engraving by De La Rue featured on notes from issued by he
the Falkland Islands, the Bahamas, East Caribbean States, Bermuda, Belize and the Cayman Islands between the 1983 and 2004.
Sources
- The De La Rue archive
- De La Rue Design
- http://www.pjsymes.com.au/