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QUEEN ELIZABETH II DISTRIBUTES MAUNDY MONEYHappy Easter. This week brought the annual Maundy Money ceremony. Queen Elizabeth distributed the special coins with her granddaughter, Princess Eugenie. -Editor
On the fifth day of Holy Week, The Queen and her granddaughter, Princess Eugenie, have attended the traditional Royal Maundy service in Windsor. She handed out the Maundy money to 93 men and women - one for each of her 93 years. The Queen celebrates her birthday this year on Easter Sunday. The Royal Maundy Service one of the most ancient ceremonies still observed by the Church of England. Maundy Thursday is the day before Easter when Christians around the world commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus with the Apostles. The Queen, in a bright yellow outfit on a warm April morning at St George's Chapel, distributed two purses to each recipient. The red purse contained a £5 coin, which commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria and a 50p coin portraying Sherlock Holmes. The white purse contained minted Maundy Money coins which equals the number of years of the Monarch's age. The alms dishes she uses for the Maundy Money date back to the time of King Charles II. Her first Maundy service as Monarch was at Westminster Abbey in 1952 but it has been held as far north as Carlisle (1978) and as southwest as Truro (1994). She also held Royal Maundy in Wales at St David's (1982) and in Northern Ireland at Armagh (2008). To read the complete article, see:
CoinNews.net provided some more information on the coins themselves. -Editor
Royal Maundy dates back centuries. Some of the specifics of the traditional service have changed but it still involves individuals receiving gifts from the monarch. "In modern times this has evolved into a tradition of giving a monetary reward in pence equaling the age of the ruling monarch to a number of men and a number of women each equaling in total number the age of the monarch," describes The Royal Mint, who produces the coins. "The 2019 dated Maundy set consists of four coins with a total value of 10 pence, individually a Fourpence, Threepence, Twopence and One Penny, all with the young head depiction of the Queen engraved by Mary Gillick."
Mary Gillick's effigy of the Queen appeared on the first coins during her reign in 1953. They differ from standard circulating coins like those produced now with the fifth portrait of the monarch. On Thursday, each of the 186 elderly people, selected in recognition of their service to the Church and local community, received a red and white purse. 
Every red purse held a 2019 UK £5 coin celebrating the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth and a 2019 UK 50p coin portraying Sherlock Holmes in commemoration of the 160th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birth. 
White purses included silver Maundy coins with their face values adding up to 93 pence for the Queen's age on Sunday. To read the complete article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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