Halfcrown 1823 Second 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 here 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 shield bearing the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom within the Garter of the Order of the Garter, with the motto HONI · SOIT · QUI · MAL · Y · PENSE · inscribed on it.

"Honi soit qui mal y pense" is an Anglo-Norman maxim which means "Shame on whosoever would think badly of it," or "May he be shamed who thinks badly of it". Its literal translation from Old French is "Shame be to him who thinks evil of it."

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 shield and garter are surrounded by the chain of the Order of the Garter, with the actual order (depicting Saint George slaying the dragon) depending from it.

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

The mintage figure includes also the "First Issue" type halfcrowns of the same year.