Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 20 Pence 1998-2008, KM# 990, United Kingdom (Great Britain), Elizabeth II
  • 20 Pence 1998-2008, KM# 990, United Kingdom (Great Britain), Elizabeth II
Description

Year 2000, 2001 and 2002 has different shaped 2 than the rest in this series of 2000 through 2008.

Obverse

Fourth crowned portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II facing right, wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara.

The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother, Queen Mary, who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969. The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread use on British banknotes and coinage.

ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX means Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen and Defender of the Faith.

Engraver: Ian Rank-Broadley

ELIZABETH II
IRB
D·G·REG·F·D

Reverse

Depicts a crowned Tudor rose, with the numeral "20" below the rose, and the value above the rose.

The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the Tudor dynasty.

When Henry VII took the crown of England from Richard III in battle (1485), he brought the end of the retrospectively dubbed "Wars of the Roses" between the House of Lancaster (one monarch of which had sometimes used the badge of a red or gold rose) and the House of York (which had lately used a white-rose badge). Henry's father was Edmund Tudor from the House of Richmond (maternally), and his mother was Margaret Beaufort from the House of Lancaster; in January 1486 he married Elizabeth of York to bring all factions together. (In battle, Richard III fought under the banner of the boar, and Henry under the banner of the dragon of his native Wales.) The white rose versus red rose juxtaposition was Henry's invention.

Engraver: William Maving Gardner

TWENTY PENCE
20 08
W G
20

Edge

20 Pence

4th portrait
KM# 990 Sp# G3
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Characteristics
Material Cupronickel
Weight 5 g
Diameter 21.4 mm
Thickness 1.72 mm
Shape polygon
Sides 7
Alignment Medal
Mint
Royal Mint

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