June 1947: the 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth rides for the first time at Trooping the Colour, the parade held for the sovereign’s birthday, as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. That moment was chosen for this 2006 Liberian dollar from the series marking the 80th birthday of Elizabeth II.

The reverse shows the princess mounted in her colonel’s uniform, with the words 80 YEARS and the denomination. At that parade she rode side-saddle on a bay police horse called Tommy. She was Colonel of the Grenadiers from 1942 until her accession in 1952 and rode at Trooping the Colour until 1986, for the last eighteen years on the black mare Burmese, a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The four-dollar series traces the future queen’s early years: with her sister Margaret in Girl Guide uniform in 1938, with her father George VI on her 18th birthday in 1944, with the infant Prince Charles in 1948, and this equestrian scene. The coin was struck by the Pobjoy Mint in England, whose PM mark sits beside the arms of Liberia on the obverse.

The mounted portrait is the liveliest design in the series and a natural choice for a collection on Elizabeth II or horses on coins. Uncirculated condition: the coin never circulated, shows no wear and keeps its mint lustre.

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