Best Present Ever: Queen Elizabeth II Coins

My friends have heard a great deal of stuff about my humble love towards Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and already got sick and tired of this, I know, but here goes another post about these three coins I got as an unexpected gift from a dear friend in Istanbul. He'd made an earnest effort to buy these coins in a flea market after waiting for a pretty long time to receive them. Well, after they reached me, I learned much more than I thought I knew about British and Australian Royal Mint. 

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II coins

The mintage figure on the first coin (1978) is the effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as the observe side of all Australian coins feature the effigy of the reigning monarch. The portrait of Her Majesty was designed by Arnold Machin. After I received these coins I learned that circulating coins don't feature individuals whether living or deceased other than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British Royal Family, in general. It is dodecagonal and 75% copper and 25% nickel. The reverse side features the Commonwealth Coat of Arms sculpted by Stuart Devlin.  

Australian Coat of Arms

The heptagon British coin in the photograph is 75% copper and 25% nickel.  The portrait of Her Majesty on the observe side is another design by Machin, with the inscription ELIZABETH II D G REG F D 1983. This is a Latin inscription and the full form is ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR which means "by the Grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith.". The reverse side features Britannia and lion by Christopher Ironside. 

Britannia and lion

The third portrait of Her Majesty appearing on the circular Australian 20 cent above is an Ian Rank-Broadley head. The coin's 75% copper 25% nickel as well. The reverse depicts an impression of a platypus designed by Stuart Devlin. Here is a Honda commercial describing a platypus quite well.