Here's what will happen to our bank notes and coins following Queen Elizabeth II's passing

With the sad news of The Queen's passing, many people have questions about things such as, what happens to her image on our currency.

The first time Queen Elizabeth II appeared on our money, a wreath sat atop her head, the tiaras would come later.

It was 1953 and the 27-year-old was the newly crowned monarch of New Zealand, her Mary Gillick-sculpted portrait replacing that of her late father, King George VI, on our coins.

The youthful effigy would remain until the switch to decimal currency in 1967 when the new coins came with a Arnold Machin-sculpted portrait of the monarch, diamond tiara - a 1947 wedding gift from her grandmother Queen Mary - perched upon the blow-waved do of the now 41-year-old mother of four.

Decimal currency also saw a change to our banknotes, with the monarch featuring for the first time.

The Queen's image was added to all our new banknotes, remaining on each until notable New Zealanders replaced her on all but the $20 bill in 1992.

By then the image of the Queen struck into our coins had been updated to more closely resemble the now-pensioner.

Raphael Maklouf's 1985 portrait showed the Queen's permed hair topped by the royal diadem, an ornamental headband normally worn to and from the State Opening of the United Kingdom parliament, according to the Royal Mint.

Unlike the Gillick and Machin effigies, Maklouf returned to the "couped" portrait - cut off at the neck, which had been favoured on coins issued by the Mint earlier in the century.

The monarch had returned to a tiara by the late 1990s, when Ian Rank-Broadley won a competition to design a new royal portrait, with the sculptor describing his subject as someone who "needed no flattery".

Commemorative coins with the Queen's image have also been struck over the past seven decades, including those to acknowledge her Coronation in 1953 and the Silver Jubilee in 1977 that also marked Waitangi Day - which shared the anniversary of King George VI's death.

The Queen's own death, and the accession of her heir, won't affect coins and banknotes in circulation, with those bearing her image remaining legal tender, a Reserve Bank spokesman said.

"Banks, retailers, individuals and others using or handling cash will not need to do anything differently.

In fact, the Queen was likely to remain on $20 banknotes issued from existing stock for many years to come.

"We manufacture these notes infrequently and do not plan to destroy stock or shorten the life of existing banknotes just because they show the Queen.

"This would be wasteful and poor environmental practice."

All coin stock for a denomination showing the Queen would also be issued before new stock went out with her successor's image, he said.

"This may be a few years after a change of sovereign. We will let everyone know when coins bearing the image of the new sovereign are due to enter circulation."

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.