Halfcrown 1823 First Issue, Coin from United Kingdom - detailed information

Within a beaded border, the obverse of the coin depicts the laureate portrait of King George IV facing left.

The monarch's head is adorned by a laurel wreath, with a tie displaying a loop with two ends; his hair is short and the neck is bare; the portrait terminates at the neck, unlike on the farthing denomination where it also shows a tunic.

The artist's initials, B.P. (for Benedetto Pistrucci), are in small letters below the neck truncation.

Around left and right, the monarch's legend GEORGIUS IIII D: G: BRITANNIAR: REX F: D:, which is abbreviated from GEORGIVS IV DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REX FIDEI DEFENSOR - translated from Latin, George the Fourth, by the Grace of God, King of the Britains, Defender of the Faith.

The reverse of the coin shows the crowned and garnished shield bearing bearing the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom. The shield is quartered, depicting in the first and fourth quarters the three passant guardant lions of England; in the second, the rampant lion and double tressure flory-counterflory of Scotland; and in the third, a harp for Ireland. At centre, an escutcheon of the arms of the Kingdom of Hanover, of which King George IV was King as Georg IV. Augustus Friedrich; its shield is crowned with the Crown of Charlemagne.

The crown on top is St Edward's Crown, named after Saint Edward the Confessor, one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England. It has been traditionally used to crown English and British monarchs at their coronations since the 13th century, with a two-century gap between 1689 and 1911 so King George IV was not himself crowned with it.

The Royal Arms are surrounded by a rose, thistle and shamrock, the floral emblems of England, Scotland and Ireland respectively. In tiny letters at the centre of the shamrock leaves above right, the initials of the Master of the Mint WWP (for William Wellesley-Pole), one letter on each plant.

Around below, separated by the rose, the date of issue ANNO 1823 (from Latin: Year 1823).

The mintage figure includes also the "Second Issue" type halfcrowns of the same year. This first type is by far the rarer of the two.