the 2013 coins from the uk are now available for pre order from the mint, they look superb............http://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/ranges/annual-sets
Some of the UK 2013 commems are good, others ... well, not everything that I do not like is bad. The mint has detailed images of the coins here: http://www.royalmint.com/shop/d/du13 If you click on the set image, you get a gallery with 19 images. Pics 1 to 3 are the folder, 19 shows the sleeve. 4 - the £5 piece (60th anniversary of the Queen's coronation) 5 - Tube train (150 years London Underground, £2) 6 - the Underground logo (ditto) 7 - Guinea jubilee £2 (350th anniversary of the first strike of the Golden guinea) 8 - the "regular" £2 coin 9 - £1 coin with plants representing England 10 - £1 coin with plants representing Wales 11 - the "regular" £1 coin 12 - Ironside's 50p design* 13-18 are the regular (Dent) circulation coins * Christopher Ironside was an artist and coin designer who was born 100 years ago. Seems that the coin does not explicitly refer to the anniversary, but that was his "alternative" design for the original 50 pence coin. Of the commemorative issues, I like the Underground coin with the train, also because it makes good use of the "material": The pill of the coin works as the tunnel so to say. The design with the logo is a bit simple, but then that is a symbol which is very well known. The stripes - not my cup of coffee but I guess the logo alone would not have looked good. I also like the "plants" £1 coins. This will be a four-coin set later, I suppose, with Scotland and Northern Ireland coming later. Christian
