How do you embody a nation?
Wales and Bhutan choose dragons to represent their national spirit.
But for some countries a person does it better.
You will have seen these images many, many times in a bewildering variety of contexts, both straight-faced and satirical.
Not all national embodiments become official and make it onto a nation's most famous blank canvases - currency and stamps.
But when they do, what do they look like?
Or whom?
In these cases, they looked like these real-life women:
Ann Willing Bingham
Ann Willing Bingham painted by Gilbert Stuart who may have put her on American coins.
Ann Willing Bingham was a big figure in the social and political life of the young American republic. Being married to a senator and living in Philadelphia put her right at the heart of the discussions that shaped the nation. Her dinner parties were as important as any more formal discussions.
Her family connections to the American revolution were deep and strong, but she was no appendage and spoke up for a role for women in the United States.
Gilbert Stuart painted her a number of times and she is believed to be the model for the figure of liberty on the famous Draped Bust coins that were minted from 1795 to 1804.
Anna Willess Williams
Anna captured by artist Thomas Eakins, who suggested her to coin designer George Morgan, making history in the process.
Anna Williams (1857 - 1926) was a reluctant sitter as liberty. She had insisted on anonymity as a condition of modelling for George T Morgan, but word got out and her face now eclipses her actual life's work as a teacher and writer.
Morgan is the man behind the Morgan Dollar, one of America's most famous coins, much beloved of collectors. He refused to create a figure for Liberty from his imagination but struggled to find the right model until Thomas Eakins, an artist, suggested someone who had sat for him several times. Morgan was impressed enough to describe Anna's profile as the most perfect he had seen and he immortalised her on countless coins.
Anna was not happy when her name came out, and eschewed a public life to remain a teacher throughout her life.
Teresa de Francisci
From Italy to billions of American coins, the personification of an idea, Teresa Francisci.
The age that produced the American republic was very much shaped by Ancient classical thought from Greece and Rome. It's appropriate then that one of the most famous models for Liberty was actually Italian.
Teresa was born near Naples, but came to the US as a young child - later she would say that the profile of the Statue of Liberty was an inspiring sight as she arrived in her new home.
She married Anthony de Francisci and through his work became immortal. Anthony entered the contest to design a new coin to commemorate the end of World War I. With no cash to pay for a model he drew his wife as Liberty.
You can judge yourself the truth of this story by comparing Teresa to the Peace Dollars that bear her possible likeness.
Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond
Frances Stewart was in the right place at the right time as British and Dutch rivalries decided the future of the world and she became Britannia.
Britannia famously rules the waves, and her personification comes from the era when Britain started to become the dominant naval power in the world.
The Treaty of Breda of 1667 was a losing deal for Great Britain, though crucially the deal saw them granted what is now New Jersey and New York by the Dutch. The two countries fought again, but within a few decades a Dutch monarch, William of Orange, would rule both countries.
Frances Stewart was a noblewoman who caught King Charles II's eye - they probably had an affair, they may even have had an illegitimate child. He celebrated that infatuation concretely by putting her on a medal to celebrate the Breda peace deal. The design was by one of the most famous British engravers, John Roettiers, who was originally Dutch.
From the medal, Frances' likeness as the mother of the nation was transferred to British copper coins issued from 1672 onwards.
Marianne
Marianne on a coin, the mother of a free nation.
France is personified as Marianne, a republican, sometimes revolutionary woman, always depicted wearing a Phrygian hat (an ancient headpiece adopted as a symbol of liberty by American and French revolutionaries) and sometimes not much else.
Marianne was created in 1848, for the Second Republic, and appeared on the first French stamps from 1849.
For most of her history she was an idealised anonymous figure.
That ended in 1969 when Brigitte Bardot was chosen as the first real model for a Marianne.
Racked by revolutionary violence, France looked at itself in 1969 and decided it was very pretty.
She was succeeded by:
Actor Michèle Morgan from 1972
Michele Morgan won the first ever best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival and is one of France's greatest film actors.
Singer Mireille Mathieu in 1978
Mireille Mathieu giving her all in concert in 1971.
Actor Catherine Deneuve in 1985
Catherine Deneuve has been a French icon for decades, the face of Chanel perfume as well as the nation.
Model Inès de La Fressange in 1989
Ines de La Fressange has modelled and designed and unlike Marianne, the personification of a revolutionary people, is from an aristocratic background. Image by nicogenin.
Actor Laetitia Casta from 2000
Laetitia Casta has played her Marianne predecessor Brigitte Bardot on screen.
And journalist Évelyne Thomas from 2003.
Evelyne Thomas is one of France's most successful TV journalists.
The prime role for these Marianne's is to model for the statues that sit in every French town hall and other official buildings, though they may also appear on stamps and coins.
Rare stamps and coins today
Stamps and coins are so fascinating and can tell us so much about how a nation sees itself.
We are the world's largest dealer in rare collectibles.
You can see some of our stamp holdings here.
