Every Breath You Take.. Legendary British band ‘The Police’ are the next icons in the Royal Mint’s Music Legends series

It wasn’t even a month ago that the Royal Mint added Dame Shirley Bassey to its Music Legends series, joining Queen, Elton John, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, and The Who, in what is a veritable who’s who of some of the greatest musical talents in history. Despite being together barely five years, and releasing just five albums from 1978 to 1983, The Police are more than up to joining this group, indeed, are our easy favourites of the series to date.

With a sound that was highly distinctive, even in a time of great musical experimentation, The Police burst onto the scene with the album “‘Outlandos d’Amour'”, the breakout hit ‘Roxanne’ in tow, backed up with brilliant tracks like ‘So Lonely’, and ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’. Followed by ‘Regatta de Blanc’, ‘Zenyatta Mondata’, ‘Ghost in the Machine’, and finally, ‘Synchronicity’, all packed with hit tracks, the band became one of the biggest in the world at the time. They disbanded in 1986, with lead singer, Sting, going on to a hugely successful career as a solo artist, and tantric shagger. Both Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland have likewise had stellar careers in the music industry.

The coin also doubles up as a commemoration of 40 years since the band’s final album, ‘Synchronicity’ debuted. It’s often considered their best album, but they’re all so good that personal taste means any of the five albums could justifiably hold that title. As a result, the designer, Heena Glover, has imparted the one-ounce silver coin, the most numerous variant, with the same three colours that were washed over the original album cover. However, the colour is missing from every other precious metal version, leaving us with three angled bands of frosting.

As I said, I love this band, but I have to say, the design doesn’t evoke them to me. Maybe I’m missing something, but if it didn’t have the band’s name on it, I’d have been stumped. I’m sure some of you will get it, and think I’m an idiot, but there it is, The one-ounce silver coin benefits from having ‘EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE’ inscribed on the coin edge, which along with the colour, will make it the one to get for most people. Fortunately, the 6,000 mintage, well up from the Dame Shirley Bassey coin, should satisfy demand.

The silver is back up to three variants, with gold sticking to the same three sizes as before. Mintages across the board are back up. All come boxed, with a Certificate of Authenticity, and a themed shipper. The base-metal, brilliant uncirculated variant with an unlimited mintage returns, for £14.50, along with the Royal Mint exclusive coloured logo variant for an extra £9, sporting a mintage cap of 7,500 pieces. All available at 9 am UK-time today.

PRESS RELEASE

The Royal Mint, official maker of UK coins, has today unveiled a set of commemorative coins celebrating music pioneers The Police. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the band’s classic, triple-GRAMMY-winning album ‘Synchronicity’, this release marks the first time The Royal Mint have honoured The Police on an official UK coin.

The coin’s design, personally approved by the band and created by Heena Glover, pays tribute to Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, by featuring three silhouettes to represent the masters behind one of the greatest bands in British music history.

In a special nod to the iconic artwork for the band’s 1983 album ‘Synchronicity’, the colours red, blue and yellow feature on a selection of coins in the collection. Using the latest innovative colour printing techniques, The Royal Mint’s craftspeople have successfully added these colours onto the coin in vivid detail, bringing the design to life.

Heena Glover, The Police coin’s designer, said of her design, “The key part was to make sure it reflected the band’s DNA and the magic they produced when they got together as a band. Identifying the key values, and individual contribution, was also a good starting point. It is always challenging to work to such a small scale, and at the same time to design a coin that is instantly recognisable and desirable to both The Police fans and other coin collectors.  It was important to portray the band’s energy and innovation, which I trust comes through in this coin.”

Rebecca Morgan, Director of Commemorative Coin at The Royal Mint said, “With a music legacy spanning nearly half a century, The Police have undoubtedly paved themselves as music legends with their unique sound and impressive string of chart-topping hits. It is for this very reason, The Police take centre stage on their own collectable coin as part of The Royal Mint’s Music Legends coin series. The Police collectable coin serves as a permanent tribute to the band’s ground-breaking career, and we hope fans of The Police across the world are pleased with this sensational design.”