Jody with the new £50 commemorative coin

A Preston-trained designer has royal pedigree after designing a new coin.

Jody Clark put his stamp on the Royal Mint’s first ever £50 value coin.

He says it was an ‘incredible experience’ to draw the Queen, but he didn’t get a personal sitting.

The University of Central Lancashire graduate used the latest technology to work from unlimited images of Her Majesty.

Jody, 34, said: ““Having my portrait of The Queen selected for Britain’s coinage was an incredible experience, but now, seeing the portrait combined with my Britannia design on the UK’s new £50 coin is a double honour.

“The Queen hasn’t aged that much since Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS created the last effigy, so I made some key changes that would make the new portrait stand out in its own right. The regalia I chose was key, I included the crown that Her Majesty wore at her coronation, I thought that was quite fitting.

“My training at The Royal Mint definitely prepared me for this challenge, I was able to draw upon my experience of creating designs for the purpose of minting. It’s an overwhelming feeling to know that something I created will be reproduced millions of times on the United Kingdom’s coins, and to think that The Queen herself has approved my design.”

That’s £100 right there!

The new design from Jody has also brought the figure of Britannia back to a coin once more.

The Royal Mint’s Director of Commemorative Coin, Anne Jessopp, said: “It seems apt that these two familiar British figures, both designed by Jody Clark, feature together on the UK’s first face value £50 coin in the year that The Queen became Britain’s Longest Reigning Monarch, and Britannia returned to the circulating coinage.”

What do you think of the new coin? Let us know in the comments below