The world's first adhesive postage stamps were issued by Great Britain in 1840, with the issuance of the "Penny Black" depicting Queen Victoria. Thus began the convention of designating British stamps by the depiction of the country's sovereign. Great Britain is the only country allowed by international postal regulations to omit a text name of the issuing country, which allows artists much greater flexibility in the creation of stamp designs.
In 1966 Arnold Machin sculpted a bust of Queen Elizabeth for the Royal Mail. This "Machin head" has been in continuous use since then, and has thus been reproduced some 320 BILLION times. Three copies of the original bust were known to exist, but recently a fourth one was discovered at the Machin family home.
In October the Queen's head will be sold to the highest bidder; it is expected to fetch £10,000.
Link. Photo: BNPS.co.uk
This is not so.
QE11 is the monarch of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland [southern Ireland - now called Eire - having gained independence many years ago].
The UK is ruled by parliament and politicians, not by the monarch.
Michael Phillips
Leeds, England
It was Queen Victoria that was referenced, actually.
Pretty academic really as it's Queen Elizabeth II and she isn't the countries ruler.
come on, say it with me "A R N O L D".