How long will it take for the UK and commonwealth countries to issue new money after Elizabeth passes?
Quite some time. There will be no rush to switch to have Charles’ picture.
Canada regularly comes out with new series for its notes, so it could happen fairly quickly. The Queen is only on one note now, the $20, so it would just mean re-designing that one.
I would guess it would take about a year for new coins, based on some articles I’ve seen over the years about coin design at the Royal Mint.
Ditto for NZ I’d imagine. The Queen only appears as a full image on our $20 note as well (though in the watermark of all notes). The rest of the notes have prominent historical NZ figures on them.
Coins would get an updated “heads” side, but the existing currency would keep circulating.
NZ coins were redesigned in '06 to be lighter and smaller, but until then it wasn’t that unusual to still see the occasional George VI coin around.
In the UK they still used some of the old non-decimalised currency long after decimalisation. I was born a few years after the switch but can clearly remember 2 shilling coins being used for ten pence and one shilling coins for five pence. Alongside newer money that was filtering in too, obviously.
I’m sure there are ‘Insert Royal Visage Here’ coin and bank note die templates made up and ready to go in various mints already. Its predictable - when, not if.
I’d expect at least limited circulation commemorative coin and note sets to be issued for the coronation, and general circulation coinage as soon as possible after that. Depending on exactly when the coronation takes place it could even be in the same calendar year.
I guess people in the US also may not know that they semi-regularly update coins with a new Queen’s image in any case, even when there’s no new monarch in the offing.
Here’sa good link to the UK set. Australia updates less regularly, and we seem to be using the second-last design at the moment
AFAIK, currency is issued as needed. There’d be no rush to withdraw and replace currency just because of the succession. New designs for currency and postage stamps would be agreed and announced fairly quickly, but the finished product would start to circulate over time (stamps sooner than currency, I would think).
Currency would not be withdrawn and replaced at all on account of the change of monarch. New issues would be carry the new monarch’s name and image, but there would be no reason to accelerate the issue of new coins or notes; they would be issued when they would have been issued in any event. Since coins circulate for a long time, it might be many years before the coinage in common circulation ceased to be domonated by Eliz. II coins; the turnover of banknotes is much higher but, as already noted, not all of these have the monarch’s name or image on them anyway.
Between the Hanoverian Victoria (reigned 1837-1901) and the Windsorian Elizabeth II (1952-whenever) (and I hope I didn’t screw up those royal house attributions) the UK monarchs were Edward VII (1901-1910, 9 years), George V (1910-1935, 25 years), Edward VIII (Jan-Dec 1936, under a year), and George VI (1936-1952, 15 years). Were currencies bearing their images issued for each? How long after their coronations?
When Charles succeeds and new banknotes are issued, will folks have fun defacing him?
The usual practice in the past was for the first coins to come out around the time of the coronation, which allowed time for a new design to be chosen. This often (but not always) coincided with a change in reverse designs as well.
There’s less precedent for banknotes, but a lot of countries did push out new banknote designs in the last two coronation years. The UK was not one of them. The Bank of England did not print an image of the monarch on its notes until the 1960s, and the commercial note-issuing banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland still do not.
But the last time this happened was almost 70 years ago, so who knows what will happen next time. Attitudes change.
All were on coins except for Edward VIII, who abdicated before he was crowned, which is when the coins were going to come out.
Victoria and Edward VII were occasionally on notes, but it wasn’t routine for the monarch’s image to be printed on them (outside of the UK, which didn’t start until the 60s) until later in the reign of George V, when it became more common for states to issue notes in the names of their governments rather than leaving it to private banks. Edward VIII missed out on this too.
My 10c worth - a nice site with continuous runs of 10c pieces which show changes in the monarch.
Australia- 10 cent [1966 to now]
Australia - shillings [12 pence = 10 cents after decimalisation in 1966]. These remained in circulation as de facto 10 c pieces.
The relevant monarchs - first year and first appearance on coin are:
Edward VII - reign from 1901 but first Aust minting in 1910 - in his last year
George V - 1911-1936 - first coin with portrait issued 1911
Edward VIII - 1936 - no coins released, no coins with date 1937 released
George VI - 1938-1952 - first coin with portrait 1938
Elizabeth - 1953 - various portraits, first on coin 1953.
When Charles succeeds and new banknotes are issued, will folks have fun defacing him?
Yes, yes we will. But most notes show local grandees and worthies, not the monarch.
Rare Edward VIII coin auctions for record £1 million. OK, this was not circulated. It was part of a trial set.
George V acceded in May 1910, not in 1911.
George VI acceded in December 1936, not 1938.
Elizabeth II acceded in February 1952, not 1953.
This, coupled with the fact that no Edward VIII coins at all were issued, suggests that the first coins to feature a new monarch are usually issued in the calendar year after accession, at least in Australia. But I suspect it’s the same in the UK.
Caught out! I see I’ve copied the dates for the coin issue, not reign. Well-spotted.
I actually suspect they don’t. Partly on the grounds of taste, partly because, as others have said, a delay wouldn’t be a problem. But also, more cynically, because the Royal Mint and the Bank of England will be able to get lots of fluffy, positive publicity from the process. Each stage will be an obvious PR opportunity. That, rather than the actual designs, will be what they will have careful planned.
This is a bit of a political jab at Charles.
Regardless, the portrait of the monarch used for coins appears to be the same for all the Commonwealth realms. As it would have to be approved by the Queen or King, it’s not going to be available at accession, so it would make sense to be on or after the coronation.
No, not all Commonwealth countries use the same effigy on the coins. Canada commissions its own portraits.
Not for all that long though, I think. At least I (born 1970) don’t recall ever seeing one in the wild, whereas when I lived in the UK in the 80’s,1- and 2-shilling pieces (5p’s and 10p’s in their case) were all over the joint.