The Royal Mint has
revealed new designs for the reverse side of seven of the UK’s coins
The coinage of the United Kingdom is changing. Familiar designs that have
served for almost 40 years will be replaced by a new set of designs, contemporary
in treatment yet grounded in the traditions of the coinage. Now, in a
new age, the time has come to rejuvenate the coinage by seeking designs
that treat traditional symbols in an innovative and modern way. The series
that has been chosen brings new life to the coinage and, like the decimal
designs 40 years ago, draws inspiration from the very fabric of British
history.
Individually, the
coins focus on details of the shield of the Royal arms and when placed
together they reveal the complete shield.
Matthew Dent, a professional graphic designer, had seen the competition
advertised in one of the national newspapers and he threw himself wholeheartedly
into the project. As an artist his inspiration comes from many sources
and he explored a number of options before finally developing his ideas
for an heraldic set. The result is a set of coins firmly rooted in the
heraldic traditions of the British coinage yet beautifully contemporary.
In seeking to spread a single design across six denominations, Matthew Dent conceived an idea that has never been realised before on the British coinage. To have the £1 as the unifying coin only emerged towards the end of the design process. Matthew Dent has commented that ‘the addition of the £1 coin design to the set was as a way of defining the whole series. A key coin uniting the designs’. Against all the odds, a young artist has won a public competition and devised a stunningly original series that stands as an imaginative and clever solution.
‘I felt that the solution to the Royal Mint's brief lay in a united design - united in terms of theme, execution and coverage over the surface of the coins. I thought the six coins could make up a shield by arranging the coins both horizontally, as with the landscape idea, as well as vertically, in a sort of jigsaw style. I liked the idea and symbolism of using the Royal Arms, where individually the coins could focus on specific elements and when placed together they reveal the complete Royal Arms.
I found the idea that members of the public could interact with the coins the most exciting aspect of this concept. It's easy to imagine the coins pushed around a school classroom table or fumbled around with on a bar - being pieced together as a jigsaw and just having fun with them.’
The coins will go into circulation later this summer.