New coins feature A-Z of British life
Royal Mint releases 26 special edition 10p coins.
26 new 10p coins have entered circulation in the UK, dedicated to celebrating everything 'quintessentially British'. Each special edition coin is based on a different letter of the alphabet, from the Angel of the North to zebra crossings.
Of course, in certain cases there has been some barrel-scraping (we guess it was a toss up between a xylophone and 'X marks the spot'), but in most cases the designers have really hit the nail on the head when it comes to capturing everything the Brits love most, including tea, the Loch Ness Monster and the NHS.
The coin attracting most love so far is the Q, which stands for – of course – queuing. It even features a parade of tiny, etched figures queueing politely across it.
Take a look through the full collection below – use the arrows on the right and left to navigate through the collection.
A is for Angel of the North
B is for Bond
C is for Cricket
D is for double-decker bus
E is for English breakfast
F is for fish'n'chips
G is for globe
H is for Houses of Parliament
I is for ice cream
J is for jubilee
K is for King Authur
L is for Loch Ness Monster
M is for Mackintosh
N is for NHS
O is for oak tree
P is for postbox
Q is for queueing
R is for robin
S is for Stonehenge
T is for tea
U is for Union flag
V is for villages
W is for the world wide web
X is for X marks the spot
Y is for yeoman
Z is for zebra crossing
Along with the A-Z coin range, the Royal Mint is launching a nationwide coin hunt, complete with a dedicated app – available for free on the App Store and Google Play. Numismatists (coin collectors, that is) can scan any alphabet coins they find, using their phone camera, then collate them into a digital 'collection'. The app will also reveal the locations where the rarest coins are being found.
Find out more about the coins on the Royal Mint website (it's currently down due to high volumes of traffic... but you can always wait in the queue).
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Ruth spent a couple of years as Deputy Editor of Creative Bloq, and has also either worked on or written for almost all of the site's former and current design print titles, from Computer Arts to ImagineFX. She now spends her days reviewing small appliances as the Homes Editor at TechRadar, but still occasionally writes about design on a freelance basis in her spare time.