Posts Tagged ‘Royal Mint’
Striking designs – A look at football themed UK coins
EURO 2024 kicked off on 14th June 2024 and England made it all the way to the final! Unfortunately, Spain took the trophy, but in honour of the beautiful game, we’ve taken a look back at some of the UK coins that have been issued to celebrate football.
1996 Football Single Metal £2
The single metal Football £2 was issued in 1996 to celebrate England hosting the 10th European football championships.
Before 1997, £2 coins were struck from a single-coloured, nickel-brass and were mainly produced for collectors and reserved for very special occasions.
The reverse design resembles a football, and is accentuated by an unusual concave surface of the coin. The year of 1996 is prominent, and the sixteen small rings represent the teams who competed in the tournament. Only 5,141,350 1996 Football £2 coins were ever minted.
2011 Olympic Football 50p
In 2011, a year before London hosted the Olympic Games, 29 new 50p coins were issued, each representing a different Olympic sport.
The football 50p was possibly the most publicised of them all, as it features the hotly debated offside rule in the form of a simple diagram. Designer Neil Wolfson, a sports journalist by trade, chose an image which he felt would encapsulate the sport whilst also provoking discussion.
The Olympic Football 50p is also the rarest of the Olympic 50ps with a mintage figure of just 1,125,500.
2022 150th Anniversary of the FA Cup £2
To mark 150 years of the FA Cup, The Royal Mint issued this £2 coin in 2022. Designers Matt Dent and Christian Davies created a design featuring the famed FA Cup Trophy in the centre.
Ribbons on each side of the trophy represent the first staging of the Football Association Challenge Cup (1871-72) and the 141st season which marked the 150th anniversary (2021-22).
2023 Pride of England £5
In 2022, England won the Woman’s EURO 2022 after beating Germany 2-1. The following year in 2023, the team embarked on their biggest competition to date – the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
To celebrate the Lionesses and their successes, The Royal Mint struck this £5 coin in 2023. The reverse of the coin features the iconic ‘three lions’ emblem in a design by Norman Sillman.
The England team made it to the final of the 2023 World Cup, but unfortunately Spain took home the cup.
An honourable mention…
Although not technically a football coin, the 1997 Three Lions £1 does feature the heraldic three lions design which has become synonymous with English football, so we thought it was worth a mention!
The three lions date back to Richard the Lionheart (1189-1199) who used three golden lions on a scarlet background as a powerful symbol of the English throne.
The design of the 1997 £1, by Norman Sillman, was actually the original design that inspired the 2023 Pride of England £5.
Vote for your favourite football coin
We asked you which of these football themed UK coins is your favourite, and the results are in…with a huge 45.6% of the votes, the 1996 Football £2 won the vote!
Kick off your football collection
To celebrate England making it to the EURO 2024 Final, you can own the Pride of England £5 is Limited Edition Finalists Display Card for just £12.50 (+p&p) >>
UK 50p commemorates the 80th Anniversary of D-Day
2024 marks 80 years since the day that turned the tide of the Second World War, and in commemoration, a UK 50p has been released to honour the D-Day landings.
Add the 2024 UK Day-Day 50p to your collection >>
A momentous day
On 6th June 1944, 156,000 Allied troops arrived in Normandy by land, sea and air to launch their assault on Nazi-occupied France. Codenamed Operation Neptune but commonly referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history.
Image Credit: SHAEF [Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces] Public Relations Division., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
With this year marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day, these events will soon move beyond living memory, so it’s now more important than ever to commemorate this incredibly poignant day in history.
“We shall fight on the beaches”
The design of the 2024 D-Day 50p, created by renowned sculptor David Lawrence in collaboration with Imperial War Museums, depicts brave Allied troops risking their lives on that fateful day. In the foreground, soldiers disembark a landing craft onto the beaches whilst planes fly overhead approaching by air.
The landings took place at five assault beaches along a 50 mile stretch of the Normandy coast, they were given the codenames Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword – all of which are inscribed along the bottom of the design.
Recreated in sand
To celebrate the unveiling of the 2024 UK D-Day 50p, the coin’s design was recreated in the sand on Gold beach in Normandy. The sand art measured 35 metres across and took more than 5 hours to create!
Image credit: The Royal Mint
French sand artist Jehan-Benjamin Tarain worked with fellow artist Sam Dougados to create the piece. Tarain said that is was ‘extremely special’ to be part of a project that “plays an important reminder of the united allied effort between French and British forces 80 years ago”.
Previous UK D-Day coins
This isn’t the first time that D-Day has been commemorated on a UK coin…
Most recently, the 2019 D-Day £2 coin was issued to mark 75 years since the landings. It featured a design by renowned Royal Mint engraver, Stephen Taylor, showing 5 arrows, each pointing across the English Channel to one of the Normandy beaches. Although this coin didn’t enter circulation, it was extremely popular with collectors.
A £2 coin that did enter circulation is the 2005 60th Anniversary of the end of World War Two £2, which was issued to mark 60 years since Winston Churchill announced VE Day – marking the end of World War Two. The reverse design features a depiction of St Paul’s Cathedral which survived the Blitz to become a great symbol of hope to a war-torn nation. The edge inscription reads – IN VICTORY: MAGNANIMITY, IN PEACE: GOODWILL – part of the famous maxim that prefaces Churchill’s history of the Second World War.
The 1994 D-Day 50p was issued to mark the 50th anniversary of the Normandy Landings. This coin was originally issued in the larger 50p specification, meaning you’re no longer able to find it in your change. It was later re-issued in 2019 in the smaller 50p specification, however this version didn’t enter circulation.
Interestingly, the 1994 D-Day 50p was voted the all time favourite 50p coin by Change Checkers, so I’m sure the 2024 D-Day 50p will prove just as popular with collectors.
Secure the 2024 UK D-Day 50p
As this will likely be the last milestone anniversary of D-Day to be observed by those who served, it’s hugely important to commemorate this moment in history.
Add the 2024 UK D-Day 50p to your collection for just £8.99 (+p&p) >>
A work of art…the 2024 National Gallery £2
There’s one building in London that has a certain grandeur, a place that holds over 2,300 works of art dating back to the 13th century…
I am of course talking about the National Gallery, and to mark the gallery’s 200th anniversary, The Royal Mint have issued a new UK £2 coin!
Secure your 2024 UK National Gallery £2 >>
You might recognize this coin, because it was actually part of the 2024 Annual Coin Set issued earlier this year, but it’s now been individually released. It’s also the first individually issued £2 coin of 2024!
Where it all began…
The year is 1824, and recently deceased banker John Julius Angerstein’s collection of 38 historical paintings is looking for a new home. In an initiative led by politician George Agar Ellis, the government agreed to purchase the art and display it in the newly opened National Gallery, situated in Angerstein’s former townhouse on Pall Mall.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Over the next 10 years, the gallery acquired more and more paintings until eventually due to overcrowding and national embarrassment when compared to the likes of the Louvre, relocation was on the cards. In 1832, construction began on the Trafalgar Square site where the gallery resides today.
Credit: Morio, via Wikimedia Commons
A beacon of artistic inspiration
The National Gallery has been a beacon of artistic inspiration for two whole centuries, and its rich history is perfectly represented on this new £2 coin. The design showcases the iconic façade of the National Gallery building, paired with the inscription ‘200 years of the National Gallery’, a tribute to the milestone anniversary and the countless masterpieces housed within its walls.
Art enthusiasts will know that the National Gallery is home to some of the world’s most treasured works of art, from the tranquillity of Monet’s Water Lily Pond, to the vibrant hues of Vincent Van Gough’s Sunflowers. And you can own a piece of its artistic history by adding the National Gallery £2 to your collection.
Have you been to the National Gallery? What was your favourite piece of art you saw there? Let us know in the comments!
Own a piece of artistic history
