First portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II (laureate bust) facing right, wearing a wreath. It was introduced in 1953, one year after the Queen acceded to the throne. It captures the grace and youth of the 26-year-old new Queen. Her hair is restrained by a laureate crown which is tied with ribbons at the back of her head. The Queen's shoulders are bare and the truncation follows the curve of the coin. The engravers initials M.G. are incuse, generally faint, and are located on the raised edge found at the base of the bust.

ELIZABETH II REGINA means Elizabeth the Second, Queen.

Engraver: Mary Gillick

A ship Dromedaris sailing to right, legend in English and Afrikaans either side, with date above and denomination below.

The Dromedaris is one of the three vessels which brought Jan van Riebeeck and his small group of settlers to South Africa from Holland in 1652 in order to establish a refreshment station on behalf of the Dutch East India Company.

Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck (1619–1677) was a Dutch navigator and colonial administrator who founded Cape Town in what then became the Dutch Cape Colony of the Dutch East India Company.

The symbol 'D' for pence derives from the Latin denarius used in the Middle Ages.

Engraver: George Kruger Gray