The second release of the Queen’s Virtues Series from the East India Company and Issuing Authority of St. Helena has arrived. Following the debut of the series with the allegorical figure of Victory, the collection now moves on to focus on Truth in the second issue of the six-coin series.
Truth is the second virtue celebrated in The Queen’s Virtues Collection. The inspiration is the glad-winged figure of Truth, holding a mirror to Nature to reveal the truth, standing in protection of a child bearing a palm-branch and a seated woman searching in a scroll for the truth.
The allegorical presentation of the Queen’s six virtues was first presented on the Victoria Memorial, situated outside Buckingham Palace. Designed after Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, The Winged Angel of Victory is featured at the very top of the monument and crouched at her feet are the allegorical figures of Courage and Constancy. Courage wears a helmet and bears a club, while Constancy holds a ship’s compass, and both have cloaks swirling out in the breeze. Beneath stand personifications of Justice, Truth and Charity.
Designed and sculpted by Sir Thomas Brock, he described the symbolism of the monument as devoted to the “qualities which made our Queen so great and so much beloved. “
