2 Dollars - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait

Hong Kong's currency in this period occupied an awkward political space — the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration had already sealed the colony's 1997 handover, meaning every coin struck from 1985 onward was produced under a government that knew its own expiration date. The Royal Mint continued supplying the series regardless, though production responsibilities would later shift to local arrangements ahead of the transition.

The third portrait by Raphael Maklouf, introduced across Commonwealth territories from 1985, was itself a politically managed image — deliberately more regal and stylized than its predecessor, a conscious choice as decolonization pressures mounted globally.