One of the first coins to feature King Charles III

King Charles III

Charles Philip Arthur George was born on 14th November 1948. Becoming heir apparent at age 3 in 1952 when his mother Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II.

The eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II became King Charles III on her passing in September 2022. There are many things which need to happen after the passing of a monarch. Minting coins with the new monarch’s effigy is one task which often takes some time. The UK unveiled the first coin portrait of King Charles III in October 2022, with the first circulation coins appearing in Royal Mail Post Offices in the UK from December 2022. Other commonwealth countries who still use the monarch’s portrait took longer. Australia released its first circulation coin to feature the King’s portrait in December 2023.

The first coins to feature Charles were actually minted in 1981, to celebrate his marriage to Lady Diana Spencer. With that marriage ending in 1996, Diana being killed in a car crash in 1997, and Charles marrying Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005, Charles was not the most popular king-in-waiting. Although, his popularity has increased in recent years, and his coronation was a very popular presentation of the monarchy.

Bullion

Coins made of precious metal have existed for as long as “coins” themselves have. Gold coins were first struck on the order of King Croesus of Lydia (an area that is now part of Turkey), around 550 BC. Silver coins have been common throughout history, valued based upon the amount of silver in the coin. Through the medieval period, pennies were cut into half or quarter to form smaller denominations. It was only in the 1700s that the UK introduced the first official base-metal coins.

Hoarding precious metal has often been done either through circulation coins, or with cast bars. More recently, “bullion coins” – precious metal coins struck to a specific weight, purely to hold as a store of wealth, have become popular. The first one ounce gold bullion coin was produced by Rand refineries of South Africa in 1967. Today, many mints produce cast bars, minted bars and minted coins. I do not provide financial advice, so please do your own research. In general, cast bars are cheapest, but minted bars and coins are seen as more secure and tradeable. Numismatic bullion coins come in all shapes and sizes (literally, here is a 1/1000oz gold coin shaped like a dog’s paw). There are fake minted bullion bars in professional looking packaging so I would recommend, if buying, buy from reputable dealers.

Obverse

Released in January 2023, the obverse of the coin features the first effigy of Charles III, by Martin Jennings. The King is uncrowned and facing left. As per tradition, all UK monarchs face the opposite way to their predecessor. The text CHARLES III D.G. REX F.D. is short for

Charles III Dei Gratia Rex Fidei Defensor

Which is Latin for “Charles the Third by the Grace of God King Defender of the Faith”

There was a limited edition “Coronation” Britannia bullion coin which featured the crowned portrait of King Charles III.

Reverse

The Reverse features “Standing image of Britannia holding a trident in her right hand, with a shield bearing the Union flag and an olive branch in her left hand, security padlock, legend around.” Britannia is a popular theme on UK coins, as we noted when posting the 2016 2 pounds circulation coin.

Like most modern bullion coins, the coin features a number of security devices, and some intricate details which both make it harder to counterfeit, but also help it look impressive.

The purple hue in my photographs is from the way the light reflects and interacts with the camera. I do like the effect, and it is perhaps something slightly different for the images here, where a very shiny and reflective coin can be hard to photograph directly (especially since mine came sealed in a pouch which I haven’t taken it out of).