2009 50p by Florence Jackson (9)

[Figleaf]

Girl, 9, wins silver with her Olympic 50p coin
Home staff

A nine-year-old girl has become the first child to design a British coin.

A drawing of the high jump by Florence Jackson, of Bristol, marking the 2012 Olympic Games in London, was chosen as the winning entry out of 17,000 in a Blue Peter competition.

She was joined by Denise Lewis, the Olympic gold medallist, to strike the 50p coin at the Royal Mint.

Her design will be the first of a series commemorating the Games, available next year.

Source: Times


EDIT: Title

[UK Decimal +]

Available from the Royal Mint, product code LUK50PBP, at £1.99, see http://www.royalmint.com/store/BritishBase/LUK50PBP.aspx

I was just going to post a message that it is available.

Bill.

[chrisild]

Well, I like it. Would not want to pay £2 for the piece, but it would sure be a neat circulation find. What I do not like is how the face value appears - too close to the edge, while there would have been plenty of space left and right of the head to put "FIFTY" and "PENCE" there.

Christian

[Figleaf]

Maybe they should have asked fair Florence to redo the logo while she was at it. As it is on this coin, it reminds me of flatulence.

Peter

[andyg]

I do like their selling point,

"Only the 17th design to appear on the UK's 50p"

As if that's something special....
Just 28 more new types between now and 2012

[paddyirish]

Fair play to the kid - it'll be her 15 mins of fame- or maybe she will become a Royal Mint regular... 

I'll be getting one- at least the £1.99 cost is better than the 6.99 for the regular 50ps, (though, saying that, I'd say £6.99 for the Kew Gardens is a better deal than £1.99 for this one).  It can wait to be part of a larger order - £2.95 for postage is a tad steep...

[Figleaf]

BBC deny competition fix after daughter of executive wins Blue Peter competition
Oct 16 2009

THE BBC insists no rules were broken after it was revealed the nine-year-old girl who won a Blue Peter competition to design a coin for the London 2012 Olympics is the daughter of a senior executive.

Florence Jackson, of Bristol, is the daughter of Andrew Jackson, the new head of the corporation's Natural History Unit (NHU) and a former BBC reporter.

She beat 17,000 rivals in a competition billed by the Royal Mint as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Her design of a high jumper has been struck in to a commemorative 50p coin that will be available next year.

She was joined by Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis and Blue Peter presenter Andy Akinwolere at the Royal Mint to strike her first coin.

A spokesman said: "We strongly refute any allegations of wrongdoing. The judging panel who short-listed the finalists was not given any indication of the name, sex or age of any of the entrants.

"Their decision was based purely on the design of the coin.

"Any suggestion that anyone at the BBC could have had undue influence on the selection of the winning entry is totally wrong and without any foundation whatsoever. The competition closed in March, before any discussions between the NHU and Andrew Jackson.

"The eventual winner was selected as a finalist in March. Andrew is due to start at the NHU at the end of October".
A BBC representative was on the panel of the Royal Mint competition, the spokesman said.

The rest were made of members of the Royal Mint, London 2012 and the International Olympic Committee.

Source: Daily Record

[chrisild]

Don't think there is a problem with the winner being the child of this BBC executive. Sure, they could have said that Royal Mint and BBC staff, including their offspring, are not allowed to participate. But that I would have found pretty harsh.

Christian

[UK Decimal +]

There was originally some doubt as to whether this would be a 2009 or 2010 issue.

Year 2009 is confirmed, go to the revised Royal Mint page and you can spin the coin to see the obverse.

Bill.

[andyg]

There was originally some doubt as to whether this would be a 2009 or 2010 issue.

Year 2009 is confirmed, go to the revised Royal Mint page and you can spin the coin to see the obverse.

Bill.

According to some sources the special version in packs will be dated 2009, but the circulation version will be dated 2010, anyone know for definate?

[UK Decimal +]

2009 50p Blue Peter received this morning.

It is dated 2009 and produced to 'circulation' quality.

Also received the presentation case of sixteen 50p proof coins dated all dated 2009.   Trust the Royal Mint to forget something - the Blue Peter one is not included in the set.   But the set can only be described as magnificent.

Bill.