After using the 2012 award-winning Emma Noble design in 2012  and 2013, the Royal Mint went with a new piece of art by designer Laura Clancy in 2014 for its annual £5 Remembrance Day coin issued for the island of Alderney. The coins have special significance at the moment as we’re currently in the centenary period of the war years from World War I and it’s good to see the mint make the effort not to recycle a previous design again.

Using the same trichromatic printing process used on last years coin, this new design sticks with the strong visual theme of poppy flowers in a field, an iconic symbol of the fallen in war. A busier design, one more routed in reality than last years, it’s a fine representation and continues the line of excellent, stylish reverses that have adorned this series over the last few years.

For the first time the Royal Mint has issued a double thickness Piedfort version of the coin. A piedfort coin has the same diameter as a standard one, in this case 38.6mm, but doubles the weight, all of which is taken up in thickness. It’s a decent addition, but we really do have a problem with the pricing here. At £80, the standard coin is normally priced for the Royal Mint, but given that the only difference between this and the piedfort is double the weight, we have to seriously question why we have double the price. Given the cost of design, dies, packaging, advertising and the myriad other expenses that go into modern coins are pretty much identical for both, it’s clear that the metal content is the only real difference with regards to the production cost, which leaves the only real extra as being around £8 worth of metal. Charging an extra £80 for that is stretching economics too far for us. There’s plenty of profit to be made at £120 for example, so £160 makes this poor value.

Saying that, we love the design and the cheaper coin is a fine purchase, For those on a stricter budget there’s a bimetallic version available for £13. Available now direct from the Royal Mint.

MINTS DESCRIPTION

Since 2012 The Royal Mint has struck a special Remembrance Day Alderney £5 Coin featuring the poppy – a widely recognised symbol of remembrance – to honour servicemen and women who have lost their lives in times of war.

The Royal Mint’s Remembrance Day coin for 2015 bears a poignant composition by Royal Mint Engraver, Glyn Davies, who, taking transience as his theme, was inspired not only by personal loss but also the concept of the transformation of Flanders Fields.

Creating the design was a moving task, as Glyn explains: “When I considered what remembrance meant to me, I felt it was about putting myself in the position of someone who has experienced grief. Not everyone will have lost someone through conflict, but we can understand the feeling of losing a loved one. My mother died just over five years ago so I could relate to the subject of loss. I was also able to use photographs of the poppy fields that surrounded my parents’ house for reference. I wanted to create a narrative and sense of transience.

“Taking my inspiration from Flanders Fields, the design shows how the landscape would eventually be transformed by the turmoil, in contrast to the fields of poppies that subsequently grew as a direct result of the war’s destruction.”

Anne Jessopp, Director of Commemorative Coin, said “Glyn’s moving design for The Royal Mint’s 2015 Remembrance Day coin is a tribute to those we will never forget – in particular the servicemen and women who have lost their lives in conflicts past and present.”

The coin is accompanied by ex-serviceman Anthony Devanny’s poem We Who Remain. Endorsed by Imperial War Museums, every coin purchased includes a donation to help support their work in encouraging the study and understanding of the history of modern war.

Available in Silver Proof, Silver Proof Piedfort and Brilliant Uncirculated finishes, the coin has been colour-printed using a ‘trichromatic’ printing process that layers colour onto the coin to capture every detail of the vibrant red colouring of the poppy. The obverse features the coinage portrait of Her Majesty The Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS.

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ANTHONY DEVANNY

Anthony first enlisted into his local Infantry Battalion, The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, which is now part of The Yorkshire Regiment. Over his 23 years in the British Army, Anthony served in many operations, including Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and three tours of Afghanistan; he received The Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service (QCVS) for work in Iraq. His poem reminds us that remembrance, conflict and its impact goes on.

“Having We Who Remain chosen by The Royal Mint to accompany the 2015 Remembrance Coin is extremely humbling. I hope the poem is well received by those who come across it and that they all understand what I was thinking and feeling at that time and every day since.”

‘We Who Remain’
We are indeed the lucky and unlucky ones,
As we are the ones who have lived to tell the tales of those we once knew.

We are the ones who carry those scars of things seen, done and lost.
We are the ones who must never let those who are not here be forgotten by the new.

We are the ones who will never need to be reminded that, “We will remember them,”
As we are the ones who will always remember those we forever call friend.

 

GLYN DAVIES

An engraver at The Royal Mint since 2012, Glyn already has a medal for the Zoological Society and the ‘Portrait of Britain’ Collection to his name. His most recent work is the design for the coin commemorating 600 years since The Battle of Agincourt.

Glyn worked as an animator before gaining a Masters Degree in Post Production at Bournemouth University. He subsequently worked as a set designer, video editor and motion graphic designer before joining The Royal Mint.

 

SPECIFICATION

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION WEIGHT DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE BOX / COA
£5 UKP 0.999 SILVER 28.28 g 38.61 mm PROOF 3,000 YES / YES
£5 UKP 0.999 SILVER 56.56 g 38.61 mm PROOF 1,500 YES / YES
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