Britannia to grace 2 pound coin in 2015

[<k>]

There is a flurry of new Royal notices in "The Gazette", to take account of the forthcoming new portrait. The most interesting one concerns the circulation two pound coin:

BY THE QUEEN A PROCLAMATION DETERMINING THE SPECIFICATIONS AND DESIGNS FOR A SERIES OF TWO POUND, ONE POUND, FIFTY PENCE, TWENTY PENCE, TEN PENCE, FIVE PENCE, TWO PENCE AND ONE PENNY COINS ELIZABETH R.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/2290537

Extracts:

A new coin of cupro-nickel and nickel-brass of the denomination of two pounds shall be made

For the obverse impression Our effigy with the inscription "· ELIZABETH II · DEI · GRA · REG · FID · DEF ·" and the date of the year, and for the reverse a depiction of Britannia holding a shield and a trident with the inscription "TWO POUNDS". The said coin will have graining on the edge and in incuse letters the inscription "QUATUOR MARIA VINDICO" ("I claim the four seas").

So, the jigsaw series will stay, but Britannia will return on the 2 pound coin. I do remember that the Royal Mint suggested this back in 2008, after - ahem! - a "press" campaign deploring her departure from the coins. I for one am not pleased. Damn that Graeco-Roman whore! What did the Romans ever do for us anyway?! Down with the Occupation, I say! 

[Bimat]

From Royal Mint's official twitter page...

Aditya

[augsburger]

Great, the 2nd of March has come already. I knew I was losing touch of reality ages ago, but.....

If that is the design, I like it.

If that's the portrait of the queen, maybe even better!

[augsburger]

http://blog.royalmint.com/britannia-returns-circualting-coins/

"Britannia's long-awaited return to the coinage is truly historic, and the new design by Anthony Dufort features Britannia as we have never seen her before! It has a contemporary and modern feel, with a cropped portrait displaying only the head and shoulders of Britannia – a departure from the traditional seated pose and the familiar defiant stance on bullion coins. However, her heritage remains: both the trident and shield clearly feature in the design, and Britannia is seen wearing a Corinthian helmet. "

[SandyGuyUK]

Interesting that they've decided to reduce security by dispensing with the latent image on this piece as far as I can see.

[chrisild]

Whether that is a reduction, security wise, I don't know. Guess that the "iSIS" technology will also be used with these £2 coins.
http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/news/royal-mint-launches-isis-at-currency-conference
http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/news/quality-centre-wales-innovation-award-2013

As for the design, well, in my opinion, this kind of personification is old fashioned. But if it is welcome in the UK, fine with me.

Christian

[<k>]

As for the design, well, in my opinion, this kind of personification is old fashioned.

Christian

For once I agree with you. Down with this reactionary rubbish! 

[chrisild]

The last few sentences in reply #21 suggest that.   Well, in cases like Switzerland or (to a somewhat lesser degree) France, where such a female personification has been on circulation coins for many years, I do not see any need to do away with them. Newly introducing (or "bringing back") one, however, I find peculiar.

Christian

[kena]

Regarding the statement of Brtannia and this kind of personification is old fashioned, do you happen to read any coin forums which are US centric?

Here is a comment posted today from a US coin forum when they are discussing new coin designs:

"No more dead presidents. Maybe some new Liberty and eagle designs."

Wouldn't Britannia fall into the same class of a symbol of a country, like the US with Lady Liberty and the Bald Eagle?

Or don't other countries have such strong national symbols?

Ken

[kena]

The question which was asked in the UK at the time was, why are they removing Britannia from the coins at all?

So I see this as a correction of a bad decision since we should have had a circulating coin with Britannia on it for 2009 to 2014.

Ken

[<k>]

The question which was asked in the UK at the time was, why are they removing Britannia from the coins at all?

Because it wouldn't have fitted with the new "jigsaw" series. So did Obama force Britain to bring her back, because the Americans were complaining to him? 

[Figleaf]

Its not about symbolism, but about style. The Britannia personification comes straight from the battle of Trafalgar: a neo-classical personification of a country that claims control of the oceans in a time when neo-classicism is very old hat indeed, personifications of countries are out and Britain has trouble maintaining the claim of its part of the North Sea against restless Scots. The motto (another thing of the past) is roundly hilarious and all this comes decades after Tony Blair declared that Britain was now a modern country.

The design is a cave-in to the very stupidest part of the British press, heavily discredited by unacceptable behaviour and sleazy connections to the government, which expressed themselves in strongly negative terms about the lowbrow press as long as people were looking. Now, the government is making this decision at a time when two former ministers are accused of corruption. Can you imagine worse taste?

Peter

[kena]

The £2 coin was never part of the jigsaw design, so Britannia should have moved from the 50 pence to the £2 back in 2008.

[<k>]

The design is a cave-in to the very stupidest part of the British press

Peter

For those who may not remember, the Daily Mail newspaper started a campaign for the return of Britannia in 2008. That is what Figleaf is talking about.

[chrisild]

Regarding the statement of Brtannia and this kind of personification is old fashioned, do you happen to read any coin forums which are US centric?

Nah. Never.

As for the dead statesmen on American money, if we leave the commems aside, you come across one on every US bill and coin. That is somewhat boring indeed if you ask me. But when you look at suggested alternatives, many of them boil down to bringing some late 19th or early 20th century design back. Hello? I live in the 21st century. And while I can thoroughly enjoy ancient or medieval architecture, sculpture, etc., art and design should be innovative rather than eclectic, I think.

Liberty is fine, but can currently be found on US coins anyway - usually as a word, in one case as (part of) the Statue of Liberty. The Britannia suggests, to me, a somewhat different message. Again, had she been on some coin "forever", I would not see any reason to remove her, no matter whether I'm fond of her or not. Bringing her back to circulation coinage, however ...

Christian