The 2015 design honoring Sir Winston Churchill on a silver £20 coin is now available in 5-ounce and kilogram silver and gold versions.

The Royal Mint announced Feb. 8 that it would be issuing four large coins depicting Etienne Millner’s design of Churchill on the reverse. Millner created the design for a silver £20 coin that is being sold for face value and was released in mid-January. Millner took his inspiration from a celebrated photograph of Churchill captured by Yousuf Karsh in 1941. 

The coins bear the current Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.

Millner is a leading figurative sculptor, creating works in clay and plaster that are later cast in bronze. 

The Churchill coins are his first commission for the Royal Mint and it provided an enjoyable challenge, according to a press release from the Royal Mint.

“My work is normally very free, and while I aim to achieve a good likeness to the subject my portraits are not entirely literal. Working within the confines of a coin’s size and relief took some practice and for Churchill I could only work with photographs instead of a sitting,” he is quoted in the press release. 

“I turned to the famous portrait taken by Yousuf Karsh in 1941,” he continued, adding, “However, the picture is dark and I had to turn to other lighter prints for some of the fine details. Working with the coin’s relief forced me to simplify and emphasise the strongest features — the powerful jaw, the distinctive thin lips rising to one side — all helping to achieve the likeness of such a familiar figure.”

The Proof 5-ounce .999 fine silver and .999 fine gold coins are denominated £10 and each weighs 156.295 grams.

The silver coin measures 65 millimeters in diameter and the gold coin is 50 millimeters in diameter.

The silver coin has a mintage limit of 900 pieces, with 650 now available individually (the Royal Mint, as usual, does not immediately disclose its plans for the balance of the mintage, the 250 other coins). The gold coin has a mintage limit of 60 pieces, with 50 now available individually.

The silver coin retails for £395 and the gold coin is priced at £7,500.

The Proof kilogram .999 fine silver £500 coin and Proof kilogram .999 fine gold £1,000 coin weigh 1,005 grams each and measure 100 millimeters in diameter. 

The silver coin has a mintage limit of 170 pieces, with 120 available individually at present. The gold coin mintage is capped at 15 pieces, all offered individually.

The silver coin costs £2,000 and the gold coin’s price is £45,000. 

To order the coins, visit the Royal Mint website. 

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