The Queen on horseback, riding a horse named Winston: this is how the 1953 coronation crown portrays Elizabeth II. The coin was issued for the coronation of 2 June 1953, and the equestrian portrait on the obverse was created by the sculptor Gilbert Ledward.

The reverse shows emblems of the four parts of the United Kingdom, designed by Edgar Fuller and Cecil Thomas. The road to it was not smooth: Fuller’s original, far more ornate version looked overcrowded on a trial piece, and the simplification was still being discussed in December 1952. A pattern with that elaborate reverse is kept in the Royal Mint Museum. The final design was used again on the 1960 crown and, in 2022, on a fifty pence in memory of the Queen.

The legend is telling too. The words BRITT OMN, «of all the Britains», appeared in the Queen’s title only on coins of 1953 and were dropped from 1954. So the inscription ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA BRITT OMN REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR on its own ties the coin to the coronation year.

This is the first of Elizabeth II’s three pre-decimal crowns, followed by those of 1960 and 1965. For a collection on her reign the coronation crown is the starting point, and paired with the 1960 crown it shows one reverse with two different images of the Queen.

Five shillings meant exactly a quarter of a pound: until decimalisation on 15 February 1971 the pound was divided into 20 shillings, or 240 pence. After the changeover the old crown was worth 25 new pence, the face value of British crowns in the following years, until it was raised to £5 in 1990.

Grade F-VF: wear ranging from even, pronounced wear (F) to wear noticeable on the high points (VF), while the rider, emblems and legends remain legible.

Collectors who focus on a single country will find its other issues in the VPcoins catalogue as well.