50 pence

[AliFlump]

What is the significance (sp?) of the person that is on the 50 pence piece?

[Becci_h]

I take it that you are not refering to the queen..... becasue if you need the significance of her being on the coin, you need more help than anyone here could offer! LOL.....  :0)

I'll get back to you on the other person.... I'm just going to check in my coin catalogue for you....

[Becci_h]

OK - The lady on the coin (not the queen) is Britain.

explaination:  Britian was known to the Romans as Britain or Britannia and the term Britannia came to be passed as a tile given to some Roman bloke who won a battle around 2000 years ago.  The title got passed down and down until it was passed on to Hadrian (Hadrian�s wall guy) Hadrian ended up personifying the name �Britannia� in the form of a female figure (so the woman, as on the 50p piece, is actually Britain expressed as a human being) She is usually shown seated on a rock, holding a spear, and with a spiked shield propped beside her.
Sometimes she is shown holding a standard, and leaning on the shield. On other coins, she is shown seated on a globe above waves, presumably signifying the Roman idea of Britain as being at the edge of the known world. The version on the latest 50p was designed by a guy called Christopher Ironside.
Hope this clears things up for you!

if you really are interested in this, you can get a much more detailed overview of the whole thing (yes, all 2000 years of it) at the following link...

http://www.24carat.co.uk/fiftypencestory.html

[AliFlump]

Thank Becci, i only wondered cos i saw it after someone had given me my change  ;-)