Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 25 Cents 1970-1985, KM# 18, Bermuda, Elizabeth II
  • 25 Cents 1970-1985, KM# 18, Bermuda, Elizabeth II
Description

Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The capital city is Hamilton. Bermuda is self-governing, with its own constitution and its own government, which enacts local laws, while the United Kingdom retains responsibility for defence and foreign relations. Bermuda was originally discovered in 1503 by Spanish explorer Juan de Bermúdez, after whom the islands are named.

Obverse

Second 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.

Engraver: Arnold Machin

BERMUDA ELIZABETH II

Reverse

White-tailed tropicbird in flight, denomination in letters above, date below.

The white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) is a tropicbird. It is the smallest of three closely related seabirds of the tropical oceans and smallest member of the order Phaethontiformes. It is found in the tropical Atlantic, western Pacific and Indian Oceans. In addition to the tropical Atlantic, it nests as far north as Bermuda, where it is locally called a "longtail".

The ancient Chamorro people called the white-tailed tropicbird utak or itak, and believed that when it would scream over a house it meant that someone would soon die or that an unmarried girl was pregnant. Its call would kill anyone who didn't believe in it.

Engraver: Michael Rizzello

TWENTY-FIVE CENTS
1981

Edge

25 Cents

2nd portrait
KM# 18 Schön# 18
Characteristics
Material Cupronickel
Weight 5.92 g
Diameter 24 mm
Thickness 1.6 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Royal Mint

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