Mary Gaskell Gillick OBE (née Tutin; 1881 – 27 January 1965)[1] was a sculptor and medallist, best known for her effigy of Elizabeth II used on coinage in the United Kingdom and elsewhere from 1953 to 1970.
[3] After making her first exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1911, she designed several medals to be used as awards, and several other, larger relief sculptures in stone and bronze[citation needed] including the stone commemorative sculpture, Crosby Hall, Chelsea 1926[4] In 1905, she married sculptor Ernest Gillick.
[2] In 1952, Gillick's effigy design was selected from a field of seventeen to be used on general-circulation coinage for the new Queen Elizabeth, first issued in 1953.
Gillick worked on the portrait between March and October 1952, with one sitting and close supervision by the Duke of Edinburgh.
This remastering was performed by Cecil Thomas, an experienced medallist who had already crafted overseas currencies featuring Elizabeth II, but who had initially been turned down for the British coinage in preference to Gillick.