Designs Through the Decades – the UK 20p Coin

The UK 20p coin may be small but it celebrates a big milestone in 2022 – its 40th anniversary. First issued in 1982, in the same month as the birth of His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge, the 20p is one of the nation’s newest circulating denominations, although its origins derive from earlier coins with a comparative value.

During the reign of James I, a new gold coin called a thistle crown, with a value of four shillings, entered circulation. Representing the unity of England and Scotland under one monarch, it featured a crowned rose on one side and a crowned thistle on the other. In 1887, another four-shilling piece – the double-florin – was added to the currency as part of the Golden Jubilee coinage. Until that year, Queen Victoria was depicted on coins as youthful, even though she was almost
70 years old. The Jubilee coinage featured on the obverse a new portrait. Designed by Joseph Boehm and engraved by Leonard Charles Wyon, the new coinage portrait gave a realistic representation of a mature queen.

Unfortunately, the newly introduced double-florin was not popular with the public, partly because it was similar in size to the five-shilling crown and the two were easily confused, which earned the double-florin the nickname the ‘barmaid’s ruin’, as it caused errors in change to be given in pubs. Although it was only struck between 1887 and 1890, it remained legal tender until decimalisation in 1971.

By 1980, the buying power of the decimal coins introduced in 1971 had decreased and a public consultation on the nation’s coinage was held. A report following the consultation noted:

Heavy coins ‘burn’ holes in the ordinary user’s pockets, inconvenience those, such as milkmen, who carry around large quantities and add extra transport and security costs for bulk handlers like banks and supermarkets … The current range of coins is inadequate. There is strong evidence that a 20p or 25p coin and a £1 coin will be needed within the next three years.

It was decided that a 20p coin would reduce the number of 10p coins in the nation’s change and the new coin entered circulation on 9 June 1982. Like the UK
50p coin, it is an equilateral curved heptagon, which has seven equal sides. The shape was chosen to avoid confusion with other coins and to be accepted by vending machines.

The obverse of the first 20p coin featured Arnold Machin RA’s definitive coinage portrait of Her Majesty The Queen, who was pictured wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. This was given to the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947 as a wedding present by her grandmother Queen Mary, who had also received it as a gift on her marriage to the future George V in 1893. The reverse of the coin depicts a crowned Tudor double rose in a design by William Gardner.

In 1985, Raphael Maklouf’s definitive coinage portrait of Her Majesty became the third effigy of The Queen to feature on the obverse of UK coinage. His design shows The Queen wearing the Diamond Diadem made for the coronation of George IV in 1821, which the monarch wears on the journey to and from the State Opening of Parliament.

In 1998, the fourth definitive coinage portrait of The Queen replaced the Maklouf portrait. Created by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS, it shows a realistic likeness and featured on coins until 2015. During this period, Gardner’s reverse design featured on the 20p until 2008 when it was replaced by the definitive ‘shield’ design that currently appears on UK coins up to the value of 50p.

Chosen as the winning artwork following a competition that attracted more than 4,000 entries, Matt Dent’s shield design depicts different sections of the Royal Coat of Arms on the UK 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins. When placed together, the designs form the complete shield, which featured on the round UK £1 coin that circulated until October 2017.

An error in 2008 resulted in many ‘mule’ or undated 20p coins accidentally entering circulation. As part of the coinage redesign, the date was supposed to move from the reverse to the obverse of the coin but an incorrect pairing of the old and new dies resulted in the mistake.

In 2022, the 20p coin features Matt Dent’s Royal Coat of Arms design on the reverse and the fifth definitive coinage portrait of The Queen, created by Jody Clark, on the obverse. In Jody’s design, The Queen wears the Diamond Diadem that also features in Raphael Maklouf’s definitive coinage portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.