The oversized Liberty Bell replica presented by Queen Elizabeth II during the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial was called the Bicentennial Bell.
The bell was cast in Britain as a gift from the British monarch to the United States. It was six times the size of the original Liberty Bell and weighed 12,000 pounds. The gift formed part of the international symbolism surrounding the Bicentennial, which marked 200 years since the Declaration of Independence.
The Bicentennial Bell was housed in a tower near the Liberty Bell’s historic location in Philadelphia. Its design and presentation connected the modern anniversary with the colonial bell that had become a symbol of American independence and civic ideals.
It is easy to confuse the Bicentennial Bell with the Liberty Bell itself, which was cast in the eighteenth century and developed its famous crack later. The Bicentennial Bell was a separate twentieth-century replica, created specifically for the 1976 observance.