New UK Coin Designs Revealed...

The Royal Mint has unveiled the first new designs for Britain's coins since decimalisation nearly 40 years ago. The Mint commissioned new "reverse" designs for the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p and £1 coins that feature the shield of the royal arms to partner the Queen's head on the flip side. Here's a first look at the changes to your change.







The Royal Arms are a symbol of the reigning monarch. A Shield of Arms was first used on English coinage in the mid-14th century, while the Royal Arms in its current form was introduced during the reign of Queen Victoria. Designer Mathew Dent tested his design idea by printing out an image of the Royal Arms and arranging the coins over the top before outlining the coins and trimming.



What do you think?

 

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Interesting design concept. Not sure I really like it though...

 

I like it other than the fact that Wales is yet again not represented on a British coin

 

I think it is a neat idea, but one that will get old very quickly.

 

Placed them closer together in Photoshop...

 

Indeed, interesting concept. It would probably get annoying after a while, though.

De Orc - Hasn't Wales been represented on 1 pound coins in the past? (I'm not too up on the decimal coinage, so I'm not sure)

 

Yes you are quite right the Welsh Dragon was on it, what I should have said was Britten is made up of four components so were is Wales represented on this coin LOL

 

That rotten designer. Quote from the Royal Mint's website: "The winning designer is 26-year-old Matthew Dent, originally from Bangor who now lives and works in London as a graphic designer." (Emphasis by yours truly.) Tsk tsk.

Christian

 

So he's from Wales, yet omitted it!?

I'm sure he never believed his designs would be chosen anyway.

 

LOL that says it all :kewl:

 

that is an OUTSTANDING concept.. i like it!!!!

 

As for why Wales is not represented, well, once you pick a range of designs that "plays" with the Royal Arms, then there won't be any Welsh elements. As far as I know (British members will be more familiar with this), the shield of the CoA only shows the parts of the UK that used to be separate kingdoms one time.

But it will be interesting to see how long those designs will actually circulate. The successor to Elizabeth II, whoever that will one day be, may have different ideas for the country's coins ...

Christian

 

Nice ! Where can a guy order a proof set ?

I remember decimalization of UK coinage. I don't remember which year it was - I'm thinking 1969 - but they released coins in advance !

So there I was ... holding coins with dates a year or two in the future . For a little kid, that was quite a novelty.

I also remember the news stories about all the short-term confusion.

I was reading last night in Penny Whimsy (Sheldon) that America's adoption of a decimalized money system caused much confusion at the time (1790's). But then, having coinage from all those different empires had to be confusing no matter what we did.

 

The Royal Mint sells them here: http://www.royalmint.com/newdesigns/theBaseMetalCollection.aspx
(choose the new designs only, or the "old+new" pack, in BU or Proof)

The UK went decimal in February 1971. But the first decimal coins were indeed issued and used in the late 60s - the older 5p and 10p coins had the same size, composition, etc. as the pre-decimal shilling and florin (2s) coins ...

Christian

 

I like them! About time for a change. I'm not totally sold on all of the individual designs but the 20p especially looks sweet.

 

nice

 

I like them much more than the old ones, but they could be much better.

 

I really like them and I think that it adds an intresting new twist on things. I like how the 1 pound coin has the whole shield, and the rest make up the shield. Though, in doing the math the rest only tally up to be 88p, which isnt quite the whole shield now is it?

 

Nice to see them maintain the indentation style around the boarder of the 20p coin.

Much like in that old gold indian head coin from the usa.

 

I give them a thumbs up. I do miss Britannia, though...