UK text-heavy 50 pence and 2 pound designs

[Figleaf]

Well, I was thinking along the lines of something champagne related. I've come to my senses though...Deeman has set me straight.

I think it's fine to connect the design with bubbly or something else festive. What connects the design with its purpose is your mind, something very personal. Therefore, your interpretation is always correct for you and nobody needs to agree with it. It's like the background music in a film you make yourself.

Similarly, the connection I made of the three bubbles on the other side was with the soap bubbles my sweet granddaughters make in the garden, throw in the air and try to destroy before they hit the "grass" of the garden. They laugh a lot enjoying their freedom.

This is exactly the problem with text. It is not open to interpretation. It's just there.

Peter

[<k>]

I'm slightly off-topic here, since I'm showing some of the Isle of Man Peter Pan designs. But again, they are text-heavy, in a similar way to the UK 50 pence coins that I showed. Is there some kind of coordination going on here, I wonder, designer-wise?

[eurocoin]

I asked one of the 2 designers of the Peter Pan coins if there was any specific reason for this but he told me that there was no specific reason behind it.

[<k>]

I asked one of the 2 designers of the Peter Pan coins if there was any specific reason for this but he told me that there was no specific reason behind it.

He has clearly been influenced by the Royal Mint designs for the UK. Let's hope he doesn't go to prison. 

[<k>]

Isle of Man, 50 pence, 2018.  Remembrance Day.

Another text-heavy design. Large text.

This topic contains UK and IOM 50p coins, so it could go in either the UK or Crown Dependency boards.

[<k>]

UK, 50p, 2012.  Olympics. Football - the offside rule.  Boring subject with design to match.

[<k>]

UK, 50p, 2012.  Olympics. Rowing.

Such ideals.    But what should it really say? "SWEAT. TESTOSTERONE. BITTER RIVALRY. PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS. DRUG TESTS." Etc. 

[FosseWay]

UK, 50p, 2012.  Olympics. Rowing.

Such ideals.    But what should it really say? "SWEAT. TESTOSTERONE. BITTER RIVALRY. PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS. DRUG TESTS." Etc. 

And there I was thinking that rowing involved SCREAMING. SHOUTING. BITCHINESS. THROWING OBJECTS. SAYING STUFF YOU'LL REGRET LATER. 

[<k>]

And there I was thinking that rowing involved SCREAMING. SHOUTING. BITCHINESS. THROWING OBJECTS. SAYING STUFF YOU'LL REGRET LATER. 

Man, you're such a cynic, FosseWay. 

[brandm24]

They're two of the oddest coins I've seen, <k>. YIKES!

Bruce

[<k>]

They're two of the oddest coins I've seen, <k>. YIKES!

Bruce

I would say different rather than odd. It all depends on what you are used to. US designs are as yet still quite conservative, and there is something to be said for that. UK coins used to be very staid, but this century the Royal Mint has become very innovative in its designs, which in general I applaud. Not every design works for everybody, of course. And compared to the Eiffel Tower-shaped coins of the Cook Islands, etc., these UK ones are nothing!

[Figleaf]

I agree with <k>. The first is an attempt to come up with a concept (a hard to understand rule of soccer stands in for the game) to represent something beyond the humans involved. The second seeks to create depth in a flat object by creating perspective. Both are accepted techniques for commemorative coins and art medals.

Peter

[brandm24]

I would say different rather than odd. It all depends on what you are used to. US designs are as yet still quite conservative, and there is something to be said for that. UK coins used to be very staid, but this century the Royal Mint has become very innovative in its designs, which in general I applaud. Not every design works for everybody, of course. And compared to the Eiffel Tower-shaped coins of the Cook Islands, etc., these UK ones are nothing!

Maybe odd isn't the right choice of words...different certainly fits. In any case beauty is an individual's perception.

I agree about the US designs being conservative, at least until the state quarters, presidential issues, and others. Not wildly innovative but still very appealing. Frankly, I dislike nearly all US designs after the demise of the Buffalo, Standing Liberty, Walking Liberty, and Mercury coinage. The "dead president" designs are duds to me (the Eisenhower dollars in particular are horrendous). Things are improving at the mint though.

Thanks again for my new and improved avatar, <k>.

Bruce

[Alan71]

On the other extreme...

Back in the day, some UK commemoratives weren't wordy enough.  The most common one of all - the 1973 EEC 50p - had no text on it at all. For decades, I thought the design was just an alternative to Britannia, but with the one date.  When I properly got into coin collecting in the early 1990s, I discovered what its purpose was but even then it wasn't obvious to me what the design signified.  There is no mention of "EEC" on it (perhaps just as well with that entity later becoming the EC and then EU).  And with no internet then, you really had no easy way of finding out any information about it.

These days, of course, information is at our fingertips every second of the day (well, perhaps not so much in <k>'s case if he doesn't have a smartphone...) so there is less need for a coin to parade the reason for its existence.  Nevertheless, the trend is to smother the design with text, rendering it (to some) much less attractive.  Some do buck the trend though.  The Paddington ones don't tell us why they exist (though that's probably not a bad thing...)

[<k>]

I agree about the US designs being conservative, at least until the state quarters, presidential issues, and others. Not wildly innovative but still very appealing.

I meant conservative in relation to what goes on elsewhere - they are certainly not conservative compared to previous US issues. And yes, they are most attractive. Here in the UK, though, I am used to our 50 pence coin, which gives just that bit more room to the design than the quarters.

Thanks again for my new and improved avatar, <k>.

You are very welcome. I set to work right after I received your fifteen dollar bill.