Originally training as a calligrapher, Martin Jennings also has experience carving inscriptions into stone. And eventually, once it is complete and cast in plaster, my original design can be digitally reduced so that the impression is the right size for a coin.” I work by hand using tiny, tiny millimetres of material to model it. “The piece is modelled in plaster larger than the size of the coin, so about the size of a dinner plate. To present just one side of somebody’s head, you have to understand how the head works in the round, so you examine all of these old photographs then settle on just one or two that give you the optimal impression of the side of the head that you are modelling. “You collect as many photographic images of your subject as you can. To prepare for the process of designing His Majesty’s official coinage portrait, Martin Jennings began his research by studying as many photographs of The King as he could. It has been very gratifying to be involved in this important process.” He was very interested in it and responded very positively to it. “I was delighted to hear that The King likes the image. The sculptor turned his hand to coin design and recently created the first definitive coinage portrait of King Charles III, who personally approved the portrait. His representations of great writers and poets, including John Betjeman at St Pancras Station, Philip Larkin in Hull, Charles Dickens in Portsmouth, and George Orwell outside BBC’s Broadcasting House, are particularly well-known and admired. Martin Jennings has been making public sculptures in the UK for many years. Marking the historic succession from one monarch to another, the coins in our memorial coin collection honouring Queen Elizabeth II are the first to feature King Charles III’s official coinage portrait designed by acclaimed sculptor Martin Jennings.
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