New Designs
Can't say I like the £5 design, and the £1 seems as though they were scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas. The rest are good, though!

I like the IK Brunel £2 coin, but I cannot say I particularly care for any of the rest of them.

What exactly is on the £1 coin? Whatever it is alleged to be, it is unimaginative.

That link is not doing it for me - are these the ones you are speaking of?

It's Sir John Macneill's Egyptian Arch in Northern Ireland, part of the Bridges series.

Yup. Can anyone find any of these £1 in circulation? I have the first, but would really like to get the second that has been released.

I do like the look of that £2 as well!

Bring back Britannia,Lions,George and Dragons etc.
Predecimal coins for me..... These modern issues would be at home in MFI.

Bring back Una and the Lion too. I miss the Golden Hinde on the Halfpenny, Britannia on the Penny. Classic designs.

Bring back crosses and pellets and Cruciform shields.


Actually the one design i would absolutely love to see brought back would be De Saulles', Standing Britannia. Simply exquisite.

Anyone noted the fact that they have two commem £2 coins every year now? Was one not enough of a profit margin for them?

So that's three two pound coins issued every year! That's why i don't collect current coins, you just can't keep up with it.

How come you guys already know about these pieces? Just today I got a letter from the Royal Mint which says, "I am pleased to tell you that you are amongst the first, anywhere in the world, to see the new United Kingdom commemorative coin collections for 2006." Yeah, among the first few billion people ...

The second Brunel piece (£2 "His Achievements") I actually like a lot. It shows a sequence of arches from Paddington Station - cool. Hope the actual coin is as neat as the picture. Now that smoker ...

The Egyptian Arch £1 coin is nice too. Don't quite understand, though, what that ribbon-or-whatever, along the edge, represents. That 80th birthday crown is an interesting concept but I doubt it will show up in circulation.

The two Victoria Cross 50p coins, well, I don't know. The one that displays the medal is not that thrilling. The second one (Heroic Acts) is interesting because it shows the cross in the background, like a shadow - but those rays (?) look a little uneven.

Christian

The 2 pounder is great!

The fiddy pense I need to see a better picture to make a accurate judgement.

The one pounder is, um, not ugly. As for the rest...

The second one (Heroic Acts) is interesting because it shows the cross in the background, like a shadow - but those rays (?) look a little uneven.

Christian
[right][snapback]123775[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
Sorry syzyqv! The link should take you to the Royal Mint 'Advance' section where you can progress links to see enlarged pics. But the ones you show are the ones I'm talking about
Christian, I think the 'rays' are supposed to be incoming enemy fire - but I could be wrong!
Aethling - Two £2's and two 50p's - now you know why they say "making a mint!

I am still waiting to hear from the RM. Fortunately, Westminster has had the new issues listed on it's site for a couple weeks.

Don't forget there is also a £5!! At least this year, there is only one £5. Had 2 of the crowns in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2005.

I no longer count those as real coins, the Post Office issues them at a fiver for five pounds, but they refuse to exchange them back. So as far as i'm concerned they're less legal tender and more negotiable tender, banks don't like taking them either (and strangely they no longer supply them). I remember getting a 1996 £5 coins from the bank, and they used to take them back for £5. Now they don't deal with them.

The Mint went overboard.

Seems like there should be legislation that the banks have to take back what they dole out, same for the PO.

Here in the USA the PO is the only place I spend SBA's and Sackies, and $2 bills. They don't distribute the $2's now, but they are the only source for the SBA'a and Sackies.

Ah yes, makes sense. Oh, and I fell prey to their marketing tactics. Just got an order confirmation, hehe.

Christian

If banks and POs took them then i'd consider them legal tender.

Problem I have with some banks in my area, they will take anything unusual, seems like quite a few have coin collectors on staff.

I don't see any reason why they should swap fiver notes to take them back, but are they accepted in purchases (from the PO)? That would be my big question.

Three POs turned me down, one grudgingly accepted but the cashier looked uncomfortable like he was risking his job.

That's bad. After all, any gov't agency really has no reason to refuse legal tender.

I've never had difficulty spending nickel 50c and $1 here, though sometimes they were'nt cheerfully accepted.

Don't know about the UK but in Germany, for example, Deutsche Post is not a government agency. Currently the company still has a monopoly regarding non-local mail up to 100 (50) grams. But the majority of the stocks is held by investors other than the government. So the postal service, and I assume the same applies to the UK, may (like any other business) refuse to accept legal tender for anything but debt payments.

Christian

I 've never found any reluctance to accept £5's. I got one in change in the local supermarket - and spent it later as it was too 'circulated' to keep.

That rather explains the comparatively high postage rates in Germany. I could not believe how much it cost to mail a letter there when I was there in 1993.

Correct, the Royal Mail is a private company.

Correct.


I have never recieved a £5 coin in change, nor have i ever been able to spend one. Pre-1997 £2 coins on the other hand i've recieved and spent those both before 1997 and since, but it's seldom.

Interesting... I wasn't aware that Britain (or Germany) had private mail systems...

I think I am going to have to see bigger picks before I can make a good judgement but there were a couple that looked promising to me.