The third coin in the Royal Mint's Dinosauria Collection is Hylaeosaurus.
After his success with the Iguanodon and his 1827 book called 'Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex', Dr Gideon Mantell continued his research into the fossil remains of what became known as dinosaurs. In 1932 in a quarry in West Sussex, Mantell discovered Hylaeosaurus, a creature from the Early Cretaceous period some 136 million years ago.
However, all was not well. Mantell was a medical doctor but his practice had deteriorated. He still had not convinced everyone that his findings were of this new family of huge creatures, and after struggling with lack of money had to sell his entire collection to the British Museum for £4,000.
While at its new home at the Museum, the anatomist Richard Owen was able to study the objects in depth and although he had publicly doubted Mantell now realised that these remains were of dinosaurs. Owen was a controversial, if not brilliant figure, but his influence validated the existence of dinosaurs.
Owen took much of the credit that Mantell probably deserved at the time although we know now that Gideon Mantell was paramount in discovering and identifying dinosaurs. Mantell went back to being a doctor in South London and sadly had several misfortunes in his later life. He died in 1852.
The Reverse, by Robert Nicholls, shows an image of the Hylaeosaurus.
The Obverse shows a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Jody Clark.
The coin is available as BU, colour BU, silver proof, colour silver proof and gold proof. The coins are available individually or as a set.
Images used by permission of The Royal Mint
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Mintage: Not known
Minted at The Royal Mint.
Queen Elizabeth II issued many coins and was monarch during decimalisation. She married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 and had four children. Her eldest son succeeded the throne as King Charles III. House of Windsor.
The British Fifty Pence (50p) coin was introduced in October 1969 as part of the decimalisation of the British currency. It replaced the 10 shilling note, both being equivalent to half of one pound (£0.50). It is colloquially called the '50 pee'. The coin has 7 sides (heptagonal) but has rounded corners on each apex so that the coin will roll and work in vending machines.
Originally, the coin has a diameter of 30mm and weighed 13.5g, but in 1997 this was replaced with a smaller version of diameter 27.3mm and weight of 8g. The thickness was kept at 1.78mm. The coin is made of Cupro-Nickel (75% copper, 25% nickel). The larger version was demonitised (i.e. ceased to be legal tender) in 1998.
There are four versions of the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II:
- 1969-1984 - Designer: Arnold Machin
- 1985-1997 - Designer: Raphael Maklouf
- 1998-2015 - Designer: Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS
- 2015-2022 - Designer: Jody Clark
There are also 29 different variants which were minted in 2011 in celebration of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Formed in the reign of Alfred the Great about the year 886, during the period 1279-1812 it was generally referred to as The Tower Mint as it was housed at the Tower of London. The Master of The Royal Mint has included famous figures such as Sir Isaac Newton.
Since 2010 it has operated as Royal Mint Ltd, a company owned by HM Treasury, under an exclusive contract to supply all coinage for the UK although it also produces medals and coins for other countries. It is currently located at Llantrisant, Wales.
The orignal coinage was Pounds, Shillings and Pence but since decimalisation on 15 February 1971, it is £1 = 100p, that is One Pound = 100 pence. The coinage of the UK is also a long history, the Royal Mint being established as long ago as 886AD when coins were hammered. Today there is perhaps 30 billion coins in circulation, and many (numismatic) collectors coins and sets are issued frequently in gold, silver and other metals.
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