{"id":463781,"date":"2026-02-07T05:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463781\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T05:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:36:12","slug":"collectors-snap-up-royal-australian-mints-queen-elizabeth-ii-coins-despite-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/463781\/","title":{"rendered":"Collectors snap up Royal Australian Mint’s Queen Elizabeth II coins, despite criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two coins minted to celebrate 100 years since the birth of Queen Elizabeth II were intended to depict the monarch as “stunning and heavenly”, according to the Royal Australian Mint.<\/p>\n

Images of an uncirculated 50 cent coin, and a commemorative silver-proof coin were released on Thursday, featuring the monarch’s face surrounded by a horse and corgi motifs, roses, lily of the valley, myrtle and golden wattle floral details and the Royal cypher of Queen Elizabeth II.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ballots for both the silver-proof coin and the uncirculated 50 cent coin were fully subscribed soon after opening. (Royal Australian Mint)<\/p>\n

Royal Australian Mint CEO Emily Martin said the coins will serve as a “commemoration and a tribute to a remarkable life”.<\/p>\n

“This design honours the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth by reflecting the many dimensions of her life \u2014 her service, her passions and her humanity \u2014 captured in a way that speaks to memory and legacy; a Monarch whose devotion and presence left an indelible mark on Australia and the world,” she said.<\/p>\n

But the Queen’s portrait, constructed from a face-on perspective by Royal Australian Mint artist Alex Stokic, has drawn criticism and ire from social media users.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s a reason most portraits are from the side. Looks like she just ran into a wall,” one user wrote on the Royal Australian Mint’s Facebook page.<\/p>\n

“No, stop, don\u2019t release it, melt them all and get at proper portrait of The Queen not a screen shot of Mrs Doubtfire,” another added, comparing the Queen’s portrait to a character played by the late comedian Robin Williams in the 1993 film of the same name.<\/p>\n

On X, users’ responses ranged from “it looks like she’s in a very bad mood”, to a comparison of the portrait to a “restored fresco of Jesus” in Spain.<\/p>\n

Collectors rush in<\/p>\n

The coins were offered to collectors through a ballot run by the Royal Australian Mint.<\/p>\n

There were 30,000 50c cent coins minted, valued at $20 each.<\/p>\n

Just 5000 of the silver-proof coins were released, values at $190 each.<\/p>\n

While many on social media were critical of the Queens’ portrait, others expressed their frustration at not getting a place in the online ballot.<\/p>\n

On the online auction site Ebay, the 50 cent coin has prices listed between $5 and $15 above the $20 value it was initially sold for, while the silver-proof coin had listings at $265 and $289 on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two coins minted to celebrate 100 years since the birth of Queen Elizabeth II were intended to depict…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,237784,237783,237782,134,10661,206462],"class_list":["post-463781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-coins","tag-collectors-coins","tag-commemorative-coins","tag-entertainment","tag-queen-elizabeth-ii","tag-royal-australian-mint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}