United Kingdom: 1 pound series capitals - 2010/2011

[eurocoin]

Late 2008 the Royal Mint invited 5 designers to submit designs for a series of 1 pound coins to celebrate London, Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. The winning designs in this competition, that were made by Stuart Devlin, can be seen here. The concept of this series of unrealised designs, that was made by the design studio "The Partners" was to touch people's hearths through music. On each coin a pattern can be seen that resembles the one in a music box. The patterns are of songs that are typical for one of these capitals. The idea was that little coin players would be sent around the country to post offices, schools and train stations. To bring alive an unique detail about each capital city.

The series of designs lost with just 1 single vote difference. The design studio blamed the "traditionalists" at the mint advisory committee.

The full song list as suggested was:

Belfast:
'My Lagan Love'
One of the most popular Irish folk songs, set beside the River Lagan that flows through Belfast

London:
'Oranges and Lemons'
The English nursery rhyme about the bells of the churches around the City of London

Cardiff:
'Cardiff Arms'
A patriotic Welsh marching band tune

Edinburgh:
'Flowers of Edinburgh'
A traditional tune that is still one of the most popular standards for Scottish dancing



Edge lettering:

[<k>]

It's an intriguing idea. The Mint could have made a little extra money, selling "coin players".    You are very good at finding these things, Niels. I am pleased that Mr Devlin's designs won the competition, though.

[chrisild]

The concept sure is intriguing, but in my opinion the £1 coin is too small for these designs. So I agree, the ones that were actually issued are the better designs. Still a great "detective" job!

As for the music videos, umm, Celtic Woman without Órla and Méav just doesn't do it for me.

Christian

[eurocoin]

One of the other artists that was invited was Morgan Guegan. She made 2 series, one featuring (parts of) the parliament buildings of the 4 different countries and another featuring the coordinates of where the parliaments are located.

[Alan71]

The co-ordinates designs are truly dreadful!  How on earth did she think that was a good idea?  It would mean nothing to the average person.

The parliament buildings designs are better, but again I don't think the co-ordinates are necessary. 

[chrisild]

Not fond of the coordinates either. After all, they still point at very specific locations, such as the Welsh senate building, not at cities. So they represent, in a very abstract way, buildings which represent capitals which represent the four countries of the UK. Meh.

The building designs are better, and here the coordinates are merely a "side dish". Something that we usually do not see on coins, but ... well, why would we want to see it? Also, the Scottish building design I find difficult to recognize. But this may well be something that people in the UK and particularly Scotland would see differently.

Christian

[<k>]

UK, 1 pound.   London.



UK, 1 pound.   Belfast.

This is not my favourite subject for a theme, but I do prefer the issued designs.