£1 coin (2016-2022), £2 coin 2023 - are floral symbols on a stem here to stay?

[<k>]

I have been discussing the new 2023 UK designs with our forum member eurocoin via email.

I quote him here:

I have doubts about the 2 pounds coin. I fear the thistle, daffodil, clover etc. on one stem is going to be a design that will be very hard to get rid of now. Just like with Britannia.

I disagree strongly with eurocoin's view. I had never actually noticed that the old pound coin and new 2 pound coin have a similar design. These floral symbols have appeared on several UK coins over the decades. I doubt that, if they were to disappear from the coinage, anybody would pine over their loss in the way that our forum member Alan71 has over the loss of Britannia from the old 50 pence coin.

In fact, Alan71 seems quite dismissive of the "four floral symbols on one stem":

The £2 design is little more than an amended version of the old (2016-22) £1 reverse (which itself seemed to recall previous coin designs).  The leek is replaced by the daffodil, and there is no crown, but it's otherwise related.  The 5p and £2 designs are the weakest links in this series but, for me, are more than made up for by the others.

[<k>]

So what do you think? Will the British public take the "four floral symbols on one stem" to their hearts in the way that they did Britannia? If the "four floral symbols on one stem" are ever removed from our UK coinage, can you imagine an enraged Daily Mail starting a campaign to demand their return? I certainly can't.

[<k>]

Eurocoin also told me that he had the very same design idea for the bimetallic 1 pound coin as David Pearce, who won the competition for the new coin's design.

Eurocoin tells me:

Keep in mind that I did not actually submit my design for the new 1 pound coin. I thought they would require a fully perfect design. And I did not have the time to make it perfect. Then Pearce won, with the same design and a rather crude execution. I was gutted.

So a Dutchman, living a few hundred miles away, came up with the exact same idea as David Pearce. Go figure!

And remember that eurocoin was able to publish news about the themes of our new 2023 UK coins, and even a rather poor image of them, a few hours before the Royal Mint did. So what do I conclude about eurocoin from all this?

"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

The only reasonable explanation is that eurocoin is a member of a coven of Dutch warlocks that is using telepathy and black magic to steal information from the Royal Mint - and even the thoughts from the minds of British numismatic artists. Hang your head in shame, eurocoin! All I can say is, where is Van Helsing when you need him? 

[Alan71]

Er.... There was certainly no pining over the loss of Britannia from me, I'm very glad to see the end of the failed £2 reverse design.  The seated figure, as it appeared on the pre-decimal penny and also the 50p until 2008, was a more familiar image but I'm not sure I'd want it back.  Not now anyway.

[<k>]

Er.... There was certainly no pining over the loss of Britannia from me

Ooh, Alan71, how can you tell such fibs?   I really don't know how you can live with yourself. 

P.S. I didn't mean the Britannia on the 2 pound coin. I only ever got one of those, and it wasn't until this year.

[augsburger]

Make Koin Kollecting grate again.....

[Offa]

The floral design is representative of the four nations that make up the union, personally I prefer them to Britannia