The Royal Mint Reveals The Official London 2012 Olympic And Paralympic Coins
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Released on: November 30, 2011, 4:11 am
Author:
The Royal Mint
Industry:
Retail
The Royal Mint has announced that two British students have
had the honour of designing the official UK coins to celebrate the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The two designs - one for the
Olympic Games and one for the Paralympic Games - will soon be in the
hands of Games enthusiasts around the world, ahead of next summer's
Games.
Since the Helsinki summer Olympic Games in 1952 it has been tradition for commemorative coins to be
struck in celebration of the Games. Now 24 year old architectural student Saiman
Miah from Birmingham, and mature graphic and media design graduate Pippa Sanderson
from Malvern, Worcestershire, have joined the artistic elite, creating two £5 coins
which will be permanent and much-treasured mementos of London 2012.
The winning designs of the London 2012 coins were selected
following a Royal Mint competition for art and design students attending higher
education colleges and universities across the UK. Students were challenged to
create a design celebrating the capital's role as host city of London 2012,
including the Olympic and Paralympic Games logos. Designs were requested that could
be symbolic or literal and could involve the use of emblems or lettering.
As well as the honour of designing the official London 2012 Olympic coins the winners also receive £5,000 prize money. The coins, both of which are UK legal
tender, will go on sale this month and are expected to be collected by thousands of
Games enthusiasts around the world.
The winning designer of the official Olympic coin, Saiman
Miah, is currently studying for his Master's degree at the Birmingham School of
Architecture. The inspiration for his design came from his love of architecture and
includes a detailed impression of London's iconic skyline. Saiman also
incorporates pictograms of athletes around the edge of the skyline to create a clock
face referencing to another London icon, Big Ben.
Pippa Sanderson, who recently graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Graphic
and Media Design at Hereford College of Arts, designed the London 2012 Paralympic
Coin.
Taking inspiration from the Games, Pippa's design celebrates accuracy,
manoeuvrability and speed by using the round shape of the coin along with circles
found in the Games. Split into these four sections, her design features a spoked
wheel for manoeuvrability, a target for accuracy and a stopwatch for speed and
includes the face of Big Ben to represent London.
The Royal Mint was established over 1,000 years ago and has a long and distinguished
history of commemorating important national events. With the Olympic and Paralympic
Games and Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee both taking place next year, the
eyes of the world will be on London and the UK; and both Saiman and Pippa have
created coins that will be treasured reminders of the global celebration.
- Ends–
About the Royal Mint
The Royal Mint has a history dating back over 1,000 years. By the late thirteenth
century the organisation was based in the Tower of London, and remained there for
over 500 years. By 1812 the Royal Mint had moved out of the Tower to premises on
London's Tower Hill. In 1967 the building of a new Royal Mint began on its current
site in Llantrisant, South Wales.
There were estimated to be 28.6 billion UK coins in circulation at 31 March 2011,
with a total face value of £3.8 billion - all manufactured by the Royal Mint.
1.1 billion UK coins were issued during 2010-11.
The Royal Mint’s Llantrisant site was recently chosen to host the Prime Minister
David Cameron's first government cabinet meeting in Wales.
For media enquiries, please contact
Porter Novelli
The Royal Mint Press Office
31 St Petersburgh Place
London
W2 4LA
0207 853 2390
www.royalmint.com
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