"Clifford Mischler meeting Prince Philip (E-Sylum, April 18) reminds me of the time I was asked to approach Dora de Pedery-Hunt to have her speak at a local coin club meeting. It had just been announced that her design of Queen Elizabeth II would be used on Canada’s coinage starting in 1990. It was the first time that an image of the Queen designed by a Canadian artist would be used.

"As her designated chauffeur when she was asked to address a group (she did not have a drivers license), I was asked by the club president to invite her to speak to the club about the background on her being chosen for such an honour.

"Dora spoke about receiving the invitation to submit a design, the process of designing and receiving approval to create the plaster (illustrated here) and the meeting with the Queen to present her with one of the new coins for the Queen’s collection.

Quick Thinking on Meeting the Queen
"I was also asked to thank her after her presentation. I was not prepared to make any sort of speech. Because she received a number of questions about her trip to England to meet the Queen and people know me as not taking life too seriously, my thanking her included the following: “I don’t know if any of you know that I also met the Queen once. I didn’t know what to do when she approached me. The only involvement I ever had with her was when I handled coins and postage stamps containing her image. So I walked up to her and licked the back of her head!”"