Been looking at a lot of pre decimal world coins and notice that some reverse the head of the incoming monarch but then some countries don't so any one know why when we are all part of the commonwealth as I thought all the coins were meant to get the all clear first, just a thought as I didn't notice until the other day, yeah I know I'm quick so bite me :P
Why English Monarchs Face the Way They Do On Coins (http://www.australian-threepence.com/blog/2011/01/why-do-english-monarchs-face-the-way-they-do-on-australian-coins.html)
Up until the present monarch, all British, British Empire and British Commonwealth coinages followed the same protocols as outlined in the link markn posted. George VI always faced left, on all British Empire coinage. Elizabeth II always faces to the right, on all coins where she is depicted as the monarch.
Countries from other monarchies (Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Danish, etc) do not have this same tradition, so do not follow this same rule. Some foreign monarchs that have been around for a while have even flipped back and forth during their own lifetime. The ancient Romans (from whom we inherited the basic concept of the ruler's portrait on coinage) almost always faced right, almost never left.
And of course now that each of the Commonwealth Realms is responsible for its own coinage design without any need to appeal to or right of veto from the Royal Mint, there is no reason why each country cannot go its own separate way now as regards the coinage portraiture. Canada has been using Canadian-designed portraits since 1990. I suspect that for the next monarch, each country will commission its own coinage portrait and the alternating-directions tradition may not necessarily continue to be adhered to; he might face left on British coins, but right on Australian coins.
A related mention of this in the article "Britain's most valuable coin" in the current CAB magazine and along the lines of Mark's blog entry.
"After the death of Edward's father. King George V, in January 1936 Edward ascended the throne and proposals for his coinage were produced. Controversially he refused to follow the coinage traditions of facing in the opposite direction to his predecessor and insisted on using his left facing profile that he preferred. The tradition was started with King Charles II who wished to face the opposite way to Oliver Cromwell, and had been followed ever since until Edward".
Quote from: 'markn' pid='53068' dateline='1403224832'Why English Monarchs Face the Way They Do On Coins (http://www.australian-threepence.com/blog/2011/01/why-do-english-monarchs-face-the-way-they-do-on-australian-coins.html)
That is great reading.