Description
QUEEN ELIZABETH II’S DEDICATION TO THE MAUNDY CEREMONY
Queen Elizabeth II tirelessly supported charities during her reign, and she was particularly dedicated to the Maundy Ceremony when each year on the Thursday before Easter a number of deserving people would be presented with a gift of money in the form of specially minted coins.
King George V only attended the ceremony in person a few times – King George VI (Elizabeth’s father) only attended nine times. Queen Elizabeth II on the other hand, attended sixty-five times, missing only five occasions during her reign: twice having just given birth, twice while away in the Commonwealth, and then in 2022 at the age of 95 she was just ‘not up to it’.
This outstanding attendance shows how seriously she took the Maundy service which is why the Maundy coins were chosen as the design for a special commemorative five pound coin in 2022 to mark her charity work.
THE COMMEMORATIVE FIVE POUND COIN
Country of issue: UK • Diameter 38.6mm • Sterling silver 92.5% pure • Weight 28.28grams, PROOF quality • Mintage 4,160
This coin was minted in 2022 as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. The design features the front and rear of the four Maundy coins of 1953 – Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation year – along with her signature across the main section of the coin with the legend CHARITY AND PATRONAGE to pay tribute to her ceaseless efforts on behalf of charities.
THE MAUNDY SET
Country of issue: UK • Diameter 17.6mm, 16.2mm, 13.4mm, 11.1mm • Sterling silver 92.5% pure • Weight 1.9gm, 1.4gm, 0.9gm, 0.5gm • PROOF quality
This set will be an original set of four British Maundy coins, most likely from the year 2000.
Maundy coins have a number of interesting features:
They are still minted today to the same specification as coins stretching as far back as 1817. Only the sovereign and half sovereign have remained unchanged for a similar time, but the Maundy coins of 1817 were issued a few months before the sovereigns so, technically, the Maundy are the longest series.
One respect that sets Maundy apart, even from the sovereign, is that they are still struck today with the same design as 1817.
The Maundy coins of Queen Elizabeth II retained her Coronation portrait throughout her entire reign: while the circulating coinage had five different portraits of her, and quite a few others on commemorative coins, the Maundy never changed throughout the entire reign.
The Maundy penny, being struck in silver as it is, is the last ‘descendant’ of the original silver penny coinage of King Offa in the 8th century – the oldest coin series in the world today
In centuries past, Maundy sets were originally given to recipients for them to spend. Then in Victorian times recipients worked out they could sell their sets to collectors for up to 5 times their face value. Today, with a system of social care in place, few of the recipients need to sell their coins, and as they were presented with them by The Queen, they often have great significance to the recipient, so they are rarely sold, making them hard to come by.
