The Royal Mint has released its new limited edition £1 London coin in gold and silver, which is part of the new series of four £1 coins representing the UK’s capital cities.

The series has been designed with a contemporary twist by the famous international coin designer Stuart Devlin, Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Queen. In spite of having designed coins for many countries throughout the world, this is the first time he has designed for the UK. Read the rest of this entry »

A sixteen-year-old schoolboy from Rishworth School, Halifax has entered the history books today after becoming the first teenager to design a British coin.

Theo Crutchley-Mack entered a nationwide secondary school competition, organised by the Royal Mint, in April 2009, to create a London Olympic Games cycling themed 50p. His design, featuring a rider racing a bike in a Velodrome, beat off huge competition from over 3,000 entries from pupils across the country.

To mark his achievement Dave Knight, The Royal Mint’s Director of Commemorative Coin, officially announced Theo’s win at a surprise assembly at Rishworth School today, and presented him with a one off gold ‘striking’ of his design. Read the rest of this entry »

Doctor Who fans are in for a treat this week, thanks to the launch of a limited-edition range of Doctor Who medals from the Royal Mint.

Licensed to the Royal Mint by BBC Worldwide, the BBC’s commercial arm, the new medals feature iconic characters from Doctor Who, one of Britain’s best-loved shows.

For the first time, fans of the time-travelling Doctor will be able to get their hands on medals featuring David Tennant, who is set to  regenerate after the forthcoming and long-awaited Christmas Specials.

The medals also feature the Doctor’s famous robot dog K-9 and the infamous monster – the Daleks.  The medals come in packaging featuring the Doctor Who logo and include trivia to test even the most dedicated fans. Read the rest of this entry »

For the first time in Big Ben’s 150 year history, a new £5 Crown, from the Royal Mint is being used to help London’s iconic clock keep time.  The 2009 Big Ben £5 Crown was today placed inside the movement of the Great Clock and will play an essential role in maintaining its famous accuracy.

The coin change-over forms part of Big Ben’s 150th Anniversary celebrations, with the new £5 Crown, one of the official London 2012 licensed coins, replacing some of the pre-decimal pennies which have acted as weights inside the clock since 1859. This is the first time any of the coins inside the clock have been changed.

As part of the Royal Mint’s collection celebrating London 2012, a further 100,000 of the commemorative coin have been specially minted by the Royal Mint to help the public celebrate Big Ben’s momentous anniversary and are available now to purchase from www.royalmint.com. Read the rest of this entry »

Nine-year-old Florence Jackson, from Bristol, was today revealed as the first child ever to work with the Royal Mint to design a UK coin.

Florence won the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to design a coin celebrating London 2012 by taking part in a CBBC Blue Peter competition. The competition proved one of the show’s all time most popular, with Florence’s design beating over 17,000 other entries.

Florence Jackson, said: "I was so excited. It was a real surprise to win. I’d never entered a Blue Peter competition before, but really wanted to take part because I love drawing.

I chose the high-jump because I’d watched it on TV before and thought it looked fun. It was amazing to visit the Royal Mint and see my picture turned into a coin. I can’t wait to see it in my pocket money!"

Read the rest of this entry »

2009 marks 40 years since the introduction of the UK’s most distinctive circulation coin – the 50p piece.

To mark this defining moment in British currency, The Royal Mint is proud to make available for the very first time a 16-coin silver Proof set celebrating the many commemorative designs to have graced the coin.

The 50p coin replaced the ten-shilling note in 1969, joining the 5p (shilling) and 10p (florin) coins in circulation to leave only the three copper coins to be introduced in February 1971 to complete the new series of decimal coins. While the original reverse featured Christopher Ironside’s traditional Britannia design, the new coin’s equilateral curve heptagon was unequivocally revolutionary as the world’s first seven-sided coin.

Over the last 40 years the 50p coin has celebrated a number of important occasions in British and European history. The new Royal Mint UK 50p Silver Proof Collection showcases the 16 distinctive designs to have appeared on its reverse to date, including the coin’s first ever commemorative design marking the UK’s accesion to the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Read the rest of this entry »

The Royal Mint has presented HRH The Prince of Wales, with a special gold edition of a medallion struck to commemorate the golden anniversary of the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards (The Welsh Cavalry) who have been serving in Afghanistan recently.

The Prince of Wales is Colonel-in-Chief of the 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, but his personal affinity with the Regiment goes back further as his predecessor as Colonel-in-Chief was his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. Read the rest of this entry »

The British Royal Mint has released the 2009 UK Britannia Four Coin Silver Proof Set which includes a £2 coin, a £1 coin, a 50p coin and a 20p coin. Making this collection unique is the fact that for the first time an image of Britannia is accompanied by a portrait of the current Queen on a silver proof set.

A mythical figure, Britannia was first introduced on British coins in 1697 when she replaced the walking lion figure traditionally used before that date. She has come to symbolize the strength of Britain.

The reverse or "tails" side of these coins showcase a version of Britannia designed by Philip Nathan, which was used originally for coins in 1997 when the silver proof Britannia family made its debut. It was inspired by the famous 1st century AD warrior queen Boudicca, who was known for leading a daring revolt against the Romans. Read the rest of this entry »

The Royal Mint is delighted to introduce the 2009 Britannia collection, featuring Philip Nathan’s famous 1997 design of Britannia standing tall in her chariot.

His stunning design appears on the reverse, while the current portrait of Her Majesty the Queen takes pride of place on the obverse – the first time that the two designs have appeared alongside each other on a gold coin.  

The 2009 collection is the eighth in a series of Britannia commemorative coins to be released since their inception by the Royal Mint in 1987. Unusually for UK gold coins, the Britannia Collection is struck to 22 carat gold Proof quality, but with a small quantity of silver added to the alloy, resulting in a brilliant yellow gold finish. Read the rest of this entry »

News of an error in UK’s Royal Mint 20 pence coin (20p) blasted through the media this week, creating an intensified fervor in collectors trying to find and buy the coins.

Prices for the coin, which have a face value of about 33 cents US, have shot up with auction bidding reaching as high as several hundred dollars. (See current eBay auctions.)

According to reports, the Mint issued tens of thousands "year-less" 20p coins toward the end of 2008. Read the rest of this entry »