UK circulating commemorative coins for 2021

[Col1n666]

The tripod on the H.G Wells coin looks like he has 4 legs!

[eurocoin]

The tripod on the H.G Wells coin looks like he has 4 legs!

The artist mentioned the following about his design: "Who can forget the spine-chilling jellyfish-like robots conceived in the promotions for The War of the Worlds? That creature was my favourite and I created my own interpretation of it that would take advantage of the circular canvas and appear to climb out of the composition".

So it got 4 legs because that is his interpretation and this way there is being made better use of the circular canvas.
It should have had 3 just like in the book. Bad job of the artist and the Royal Mint Advisory Committee.

[eurocoin]

Following the negative attention, artist Chris Costello has now also released a further statement:

"The characters in War of the Worlds have been depicted many times, and I wanted to create something original and contemporary. My design takes inspiration from a variety of machines featured in the book - including tripods and the handing machines which have five jointed legs and multiple appendages. The final design combines multiple stories into one stylized and unified composition that is emblematic of all of H.G. Well's work and fits the unique canvas of a coin."

[redlock]

Following the negative attention, artist Chris Costello has now also released a further statement:

"The characters in War of the Worlds have been depicted many times, and I wanted to create something original and contemporary. My design takes inspiration from a variety of machines featured in the book - including tripods and the handing machines which have five jointed legs and multiple appendages. The final design combines multiple stories into one stylized and unified composition that is emblematic of all of H.G. Well's work and fits the unique canvas of a coin."

Lame excuse by the artist.

[MCz]

I saw also an article in Guardian (online) about complains to design of this coin. There is also other error than 4 legs instead of 3: wrong type of hat on the Invisible Man. I don't know H.G.Wells books so I don't know which one type of hat is right but according this article not the one presented on coin.
By the way - for someone like me (don't know the book) coin is nice designed. I like it, other 2021 coins too. Full set already ordered (thank you eurocoin for promo code) but need to wait little longer as shipping to EU will start in middle January.

[Deeman]

I saw also an article in Guardian (online) about complains to design of this coin. There is also other error than 4 Legs instead of 3: wrong type of hat on the Invisible Man.

I think he wears a wide-brimmed hat, like a fedora.

[Col1n666]

QuadPods! 

[Deeman]

This is the article from the Guardian:

Observant fans of HG Wells have questioned how a new coin from the Royal Mint commemorating The War of the Worlds author could be released with multiple errors, including giving his "monstrous tripod" four legs.

The £2 coin is intended to mark 75 years since the death of Wells, and includes imagery inspired by The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man.

Unfortunately, it strays from Wells' vision of his creations. "As someone who particularly likes one of his very famous stories, can I just note that the big walking machine on the coin has four legs? Four legs. The man famous for creating the Martian TRIpod," wrote artist Holly Humphries. "How many people did this have to go through? Did they know how to count?"

Science fiction novelist and professor of 19th-century literature Adam Roberts, who is author of a biography of Wells and vice president of the HG Wells Society, also criticised the depiction of the Invisible Man, shown in a top hat; in the book he arrives at Iping under a "wide-brimmed hat".

"It's nice to see Wells memorialised, but it would have been nicer for them to get things right," Roberts said. "A tripod with four legs is hard to comprehend (tri: the clue is in the name), and Wells' (distinctly ungentlemanly) invisible man, Griffin, never wore a top hat ... I'd say Wells would be annoyed by this carelessness: he took immense pains to get things right in his own work – inviting translators of his book to stay with him to help the process and minimise errors and so on."

Stephen Baxter, vice president of the Wells Society and author of The Massacre of Mankind, an official sequel to The War of the Worlds , said he thought Wells would have been "very flattered by the coin, but infuriated by that non-tripod! It's not just the extra leg but the stiffness of it. In the book itself, he has a sideswipe at the 'stiff, stilted tripods' depicted in an early 'pamphlet' on the war - in fact he was talking about clumsy illustrations in the newspaper serialisation of the book, its first publication. 'They were no more like the Martians I saw than a Dutch doll is like a human being.' Take that!"

[Deeman]

Given all the criticism by aficionados of HG Wells, I personally like the artistic license undertaken by the designer.

[Figleaf]

How would you react to a portrait of Elizabeth II, decked with a mural crown and sitting on a five-legged horse?

Peter

[Deeman]

Not a realistic analogy, Figleaf. Horses exist.

[Figleaf]

They do too. Also the five-legged variant (Google them), but that's not the point. Horses are better off with four legs and contraptions are better off with three legs for the same reason that three-legged stools are more stable than four-legged stools. The four-legged contraption is as inferior as a five-legged horse. A curiosity, but fit for a queen/extraterrestrial with superior brain?

Peter

[Deeman]

Scans of year set.

[eurocoin]

The Royal Mint will this year issue a series of coins to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mr. Men.

[Pabitra]

Is it confirmed that Decimal Day 50 pence will have second effigy on the obverse?