Owner Comments:
Nymph of the Islands:
This beautiful rendition of Britannia as the "Nymph of the Islands" blends the imagery of “paradise” from Milton’s poetic work “Paradise Lost” with that of “Una and the Lion” from Spenser's “The Faerie Queene”. In the story of Una and the lion, a ferocious dragon imprisons Una’s parents, the king and the queen. Una, the young princess decides to embark on a quest to free them. While on her journey, Una encounters a lion determined to eat her. However, Una’s innocence and beauty so enchants the lion that instead of eating her he becomes her companion and protector. Along with Britannia and the lion, an illustration of “paradise” adorns this coin with the flora and shoreline of Albion. Albion, so named by the ancient Greeks, is the oldest known name of the British Isles.
This coin unlike many of the others in this set comes with a certificate of authenticity. On the COA, the engraver of this beautiful coin describes the allegory of his design. The following paragraph is the engravers comments and a description of the allegory.
The portrait remains faithful to her character, giving her a more contemporary air yet still associating her with symbols of Britain. Christopher Le Brun admits that he found Britannia familiar yet 'profoundly strange and highly emotive' and was pleased that her emblematic nature gave him to 'return to the original notion of Britannia as the personification of Nymph of the Islands'. "I find this very evocative: the figure on the shore of Albion, the wooded island, owing something to the imagery of Spenser and Milton". He has, therefore, chosen to depict her in a traditional seated pose with a watchful lion at her feet and in the distance a shoreline of cliffs. The obverse is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and has been designed by Ian Rank Broadley.
The picture substituting for this coins reverse is an 1860 painting of “Una and the Lion” by William Bell Scott.