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ONRCOINS
Royal Mint honors Remembrance Day with poppy coins
By Jeff Starck , Coin World, Published: Nov 14, 2021, 8 AM
The Royal Mint marks Remembrance Day in 2021 with another issue of colorful poppy coins.
The £5 coins were released in collaboration with the Imperial War Museums.
This year’s Remembrance Day commemorative coins feature a reverse design created by the acclaimed artist Gary Breeze. Alongside symbolic red poppies, the coin carries an inscription from the famous fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon’s enduring poem “For the Fallen,” a tribute to those who died during World War I.
Using the latest innovative technology, the poppies appearing on the coin are digitally printed with the vivid red color that is associated with the flower.
Designer Gary Breeze, in a press release, explained the inspiration for his design.
“In 2015, I produced a commemorative stamp for the Royal Mail featuring the same fragment of the poem ‘For The Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon,” he said. “I find the words incredibly moving — there is perhaps no greater sadness than that which is felt on waking up and this is expressed so economically in that single sentence. I wanted the inscription on the coin to be incised, like lettering on a war memorial, and the style is inspired by lettering from the interwar period.”
The first Remembrance Day was held Nov. 11, 1919 — exactly one year after the signing of the Armistice with Germany.
All three versions carry the Jody Clark effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, and all coins measure 38.61 millimeters in diameter.
A Brilliant Uncirculated copper-nickel version weighs 28.28 grams. It has an unlimited mintage and retails for £17.
Two Proof .925 fine silver coins were issued. The standard coin, weighing 28.28 grams, sold out its Limited Edition Presentation of 2,021 pieces at £100 each.
In total, 600 examples of the piedfort version, weighing 56.56 grams each, are available for £187.50 each.
The original article can be found at https://www.coinworld.com/news/world-coins/royal-mint-honors-remembrance-day-with-poppy-coins