The Queen's Beasts The White Horse 1 Oz 2020

The Queen´s Beasts - White Horse of Hanover - 1 Oz

The 1 Oz (31.21 g) gold investment coin in purity of the purest 99.99% gold issued by the Royal British Mint in 2020 is the ninth coin in the "The Queen's Beasts" series, which is dedicated to the ten heraldic animals of Queen Elizabeth II - the Lion of England, the Griffin of Edward III., the Falcon of the Plantagenets, the Black Bull of the Dukes of Clarence, the Yale of Beaufort, the White Lion of Mortimer, the White Hound of Richmond, the Red Dragon of Wales, the Unicorn of Scotland and the White Horse of Hanover.

The reverse of the coin depicts the rearing horse as a noble and powerful animal. At its hooves rises the quartered shield of arms of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The first quarter of the shield depicts the leopards of England and the Scottish lion, the second quarter the heraldic fleur-de-lis of France, the third quarter the Irish harp and the last quarter bears the arms of the Hanoverian dynasty. The royal shield dates from the reigns of three kings of the Hanoverian dynasty. It begins with the coronation of George I in 1714 and ends with the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under George III in 1801. The rim of the motif is decorated with the inscription "WHITE HORSE OF HANOVER", weight, fineness, year of issue and the initials of the designer "JC".
The Queen's Beasts is a series of ten heraldic sculptures created by sculptor James Woodford to mark the Queen's coronation in 1953. Their stylized form for the coin series was created by the talented engraver Jody Clark.
The white horse was used for his coat of arms by the first Hanoverian Elector Arnost August of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The breed, whose foals are born snow-white, was bred with royal support in the 17th-18th centuries and kept directly at the Hanoverian royal residence of Herrenhausen. Royal Hanoverian Creams embody the beauty and luxury of the kings and lords of Hanover. From the reign of George I until 1921 they were used as carriage horses in British royal ceremonies. The Hanoverian dynasty ruled Great Britain from 1714 to 1901. Originally a German family, they gained claim to the throne after the death of Queen Anne Stuart, who died without issue. In the search for a successor, the Catholic lines of the family were excluded from succession to the throne by the Act of Settlement. The new king was the Protestant George I of the Hanoverian dynasty, great-grandson of James I Stuart and grandson of Elizabeth Stuart, who was also briefly Queen of Bohemia. The last of the six British monarchs of the Hanoverian dynasty was Queen Victoria. On her death in 1901, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the Saxe-Goburg-Goth dynasty, succeeding his father.

The obverse shows a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, which is the fifth and definitive coin portrait of the Queen. It is followed by the artist's initials "J.C.", the inscriptions "ELIZABETH II. D.G. REG.F.D." and the face value.

This product is part of the following product sets: