Half Crown 1961, Coin from New Zealand - detailed information

Laureate bust of Queen Elizabeth II facing right (the effigy by Mary Gillick known as the "First portrait"); the designer's initials, M.G., appear incuse on the base of the neck truncation. The monarch's legend QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND + runs continuously all around the bust.

Shield of Arms of the Dominion of New Zealand: a shield quartered with the Southern Cross, a wheat sheaf, a lamb suspended by a ribbon and mining hammers crossed divided by three ships, surmounted by the Royal Crown and surrounded by ornamentation inspired by Maori carvings; around, NEW ZEALAND HALF CROWN; below, the date 1961; in small letters to right of date the artist's initials KG (for [George] Kruger Gray).