£20 coin to mark Queen Elizabeth II's 63-year reign

Britain's Royal Mint released a brand new coin on 1 September, to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II overtaking Queen Victoria to become the longest serving British monarch in history next week. The new £20 coin is designed to show Elizabeth from five different portraits at various points throughout her 63-year reign.

''She's grown up on UK coinage, so we can sort of watch her age in front of us. So the idea was that we show all the portraits of her majesty on the coin,'' said Stephen Taylor, the Senior Graphic Designer at the Royal Mint, responsible for the design on the reverse of the coin.

Kevin Clancy, director of the Royal Mint museum said he was thrilled with the new design. ''We've been making coins for the monarchy for 1000 years, so it's nothing new for us to do this. What is amazing, is that the queen would have served on the throne for this length of time, longer than any other monarch in a thousand year history of the British monarchy. That seems hugely and very appropriate that we should mark that. It's the stuff of what our nation is all about,'' he said.

Members of the British public will be able to buy the coin - 150,000 coins are available - made from fine silver, for £20. The Queen surpasses Victoria's record reign of 63 years and 216 days on 9 September.