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Loading ...New sterling coinage
By Will 5 months ago Leave a comment on this post
This is superb. A 26-year-old graphic designer “won” a competition to redesign Britain’s coins, and the result can be seen on the right. Good effort, I say. It retains the traditional shapes but there’s one, new shared design across all the coins. The Royal Mint has more:
As you can see in the image to the right, the Shield of the Royal Arms has been given a contemporary treatment and its whole has been cleverly split among all six denominations from the 1p to the 50p, with the £1 coin displaying the heraldic element in its entirety. This is the first time that a single design has been used across a range of United Kingdom coins.
The new designs will enter circulation gradually throughout the year. It is normal practice for banks to order coins from the Royal Mint to satisfy public demand, which fluctuates over the course of the year. The current coin designs will remain in circulation and as legal tender for the foreseeable future.
I was talking about the great British pound with a mate the other day when I found an imposter lurking in my change: a coin from Italy no less. Now, I’m a bit of an Italianite, but their coinage was crap: flimsy, tinny, almost plasticy rubbish like most of Europe’s is and was. In fact, I challenge anyone to find a better quality of coinage than Britain’s. Take a look at that pound coin - it’s solid and reassuringly weighty. The two-pound coin is even grander. Stiff upper lips were made of pound coins back in the day, apparently.
So well done to that designer, and let’s hope the new design keeps the familiar old solidness.
Tags: british coinage, coinage, coins, pound coin |
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