The Biggest Coin Event in British History- Your Change is Changing

As you may be aware, the coinage of the United Kingdom is changing, the familiar designs that have served us well for almost 40 years  will be replaced by a new set of designs.  Today (April 2nd 2008), the Royal Mint is proud to unveil the new designs for the reverse of circulating coins used in the United Kingdom. It has been almost 40 years since the most current reverse designs were introduced and the new designs will renew and reinvigorate the UK’s coinage.

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.

The Royal Shield of Arms - The New Designs are Revealed

The Royal Mint is delighted to reveal to you the new designs that will appear on our coins. 

A different detail from the shield of the Royal Arms is shown on the reverse of the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins and when placed together the coins reveal the complete shield.

The Shield of the Royal Arms has been given a contemporary treatment and its whole has been cleverly split among all six denominations from the 1p to the 50p, with the £1 coin displaying the heraldic element in its entirety.  This is the first time that a single design has been used across a range of United Kingdom coins. 

The Designer

The process of choosing the new designs to replace the familiar heraldic emblems on Britain’s circulating coins began with a public competition. The winning design by young designer Matthew Dent was chosen from more than 4,000 designs from over 500 people - the largest response to any public competition organised to change the British coinage.

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 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.’

Matthew Dent

The Inspiration

As a powerful symbol of royal authority the Royal Arms, in its various forms, has featured on the coinage of almost every monarch since the reign of Edward III (1327-77).  Coins were, and still are, issued under the personal authority of the monarch and came to be regarded as vehicles for royal imagery, whether in the form of a portrait or a monarch’s personal Coat of Arms.

Virtually unchanged since the reign of Queen Victoria, the Royal Arms is a symbol of the Queen’s authority over the whole of the United Kingdom, and has been used to powerful effect by numismatic artists over the course of her reign.

The Royal Arms is divided into four parts: England being represented by the three lions passant guardant in the first and fourth quarters, the Scottish lion rampant in the second and the harp of Ireland in the third. All four quarters are spread over the six coins from the 1p to the 50p. The £1 coin featuring the shield of the Royal Arms in its entirety, completes the collection, uniting the six fragmented elements into one design.

This is undoubtedly one of the most significant coin design changes in British history, and to mark this major numismatic milestone, the Royal Mint is offering an exciting range of  limited-edition collections, giving collectors the opportunity to own a piece of numismatic history. For further information on the new coin designs, and to purchase a piece of numismatic history, visit www.royalmint.com/newdesigns .

 Text and image: Courtesy of The Royal Mint