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Thursday, 20 February 2025

3769) George Orwell 2025 UK: 75th Anniversary of his death (1950-2025): £2 Brilliant Uncirculated Coin: "Big Coin is Watching You": Date/Year of Coins issue: 2025:

3769) George Orwell 2025 UK: 75th Anniversary of his death (1950-2025): £2 Brilliant       Uncirculated Coin: "Big Coin is Watching   You":    Date/Year of Coins issue: 2025:

From dystopian fiction to numismatic tribute: A new commemoative coin series honours George Orwell, the visionary author behind 1984 and Animal Farm, reminding collectors that Big Brother—and Big Coin—is always watching:

About George Orwell:

George Orwell (born June 25, 1903, Motihari, Bengal, India—died January 21, 1950, London, England) was an English novelist, essayist, and critic famous for his novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949). The latter of these is a profound anti-utopian novel that examines the dangers of totalitarian rule.

Born Eric Arthur Blair, Orwell never entirely abandoned his original name, but his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, appeared in 1933 as the work of George Orwell (the surname he derived from the beautiful River Orwell in East Anglia). In time his nom de plume became so closely attached to him that few people but relatives knew his real name was Blair. The change in name corresponded to a profound shift in Orwell’s lifestyle, in which he changed from a pillar of the British imperial establishment into a literary and political rebel.

He was born in Bengal, India, into the class of sahibs. His father was a minor British official in the Indian civil service; his mother, of French extraction, was the daughter of an unsuccessful teak merchant in Burma (Myanmar). Their attitudes were those of the “landless gentry,” as Orwell later called lower-middle-class people whose pretensions to social status had little relation to their income.

Orwell was thus brought up in an atmosphere of impoverished snobbery. After returning with his parents to England, he was sent in 1911 to a preparatory boarding school on the Sussex coast, where he was distinguished among the other boys by his poverty and his intellectual brilliance.

He grew up a morose, withdrawn, eccentric boy, and he was later to tell of the miseries of those years in his posthumously published autobiographical essay, “Such, Such Were the Joys” (1953).

Orwell won scholarships to two of England’s leading schools, Wellington and Eton, and briefly attended the former before continuing his studies at the latter, where he stayed from 1917 to 1921.

Aldous Huxley was one of his masters, and it was at Eton that Orwell published his first writing in college periodicals.

Instead of matriculating at a university, Orwell decided to follow family tradition and, in 1922, went to Burma as assistant district superintendent in the Indian Imperial Police. He served in a number of country stations and at first appeared to be a model imperial servant.

Yet from boyhood he had wanted to become a writer, and when he realised how much against their will the Burmese were ruled by the British, he felt increasingly ashamed of his role as a colonial police officer.

Later he was to recount his experiences and his reactions to imperial rule in his novel Burmese Days and in two brilliant autobiographical sketches, “Shooting an Elephant” and “A Hanging,” classics of expository prose.

Against imperialism:

In 1927 Orwell, on leave to England, decided not to return to Burma, and on January 1, 1928, he took the decisive step of resigning from the imperial police.

Already in the autumn of 1927 he had started on a course of action that was to shape his character as a writer.

Having felt guilty that the barriers of race and caste had prevented his mingling with the Burmese, he thought he could expiate some of his guilt by immersing himself in the life of the poor and outcast people of Europe

Donning ragged clothes, he went into the East End of London to live in cheap lodging houses among laborers and beggars; he spent a period in the impoverished sections of Paris and worked as a dishwasher in French hotels and restaurants; he tramped the roads of England with professional vagrants and joined the working-class people of London in their annual exodus to work in the hopfields of Kent.

Those experiences gave Orwell the material for “Down and Out in Paris and London”, in which actual incidents are rearranged into something like fiction.

The book’s publication in 1933 earned him some initial literary recognition.

Orwell’s first novel, “Burmese Days” (1934), established the pattern of his subsequent fiction in its portrayal of a sensitive, conscientious, and emotionally isolated individual who is at odds with an oppressive or dishonest social environment.

The main character of Burmese Days is a minor administrator who seeks to escape from the dreary and narrow-minded chauvinism of his fellow British colonialists in Burma. His sympathies for the Burmese, however, end in an unforeseen personal tragedy.

The protagonist of Orwell’s next novel, “A Clergyman’s Daughter” (1935), is an unhappy spinster who achieves a brief and accidental liberation in her experiences among some agricultural laborers.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying” (1936) is about a literarily inclined bookseller’s assistant who despises the empty commercialism and materialism of middle-class life but who in the end is reconciled to bourgeois prosperity by his forced marriage to the girl he loves.

Orwell’s revulsion against imperialism led not only to his personal rejection of the bourgeois lifestyle but to a political reorientation as well.

Immediately after returning from Burma he called himself an anarchist and continued to do so for several years; during the 1930s, however, he began to consider himself a socialist, though he was too libertarian in his thinking ever to take the further step—so common in the period—of declaring himself a communist.

Orwell’s first socialist book was an original and unorthodox political treatise titled “The Road to Wigan Pier” (1937). It begins by describing his experiences when he went to live among the destitute and unemployed miners of northern England, sharing and observing their lives; it ended in a series of sharp criticisms of existing socialist movements. It combines mordant reporting with a tone of generous anger that was to characterise Orwell’s subsequent writing.

By the time The Road to Wigan Pier was in print, Orwell was in Spain; he went to report on the Civil War there and stayed to join the Republican militia, serving on the Aragon and Teruel fronts and rising to the rank of second lieutenant.

He was seriously wounded at Teruel, with damage to his throat permanently affecting his voice and endowing his speech with a strange, compelling quietness.

Later, in May 1937, after having fought in Barcelona against communists who were trying to suppress their political opponents, he was forced to flee Spain in fear of his life. The experience left him with a lifelong dread of communism, first expressed in the vivid account of his Spanish experiences, “Homage to Catalonia” (1938), which many consider one of his best books.

Returning to England, Orwell showed a paradoxically conservative strain in writing “Coming Up for Air” (1939), in which he uses the nostalgic recollections of a middle-aged man to examine the decency of a past England and express his fears about a future threatened by war and fascism.

When World War II did come, Orwell was rejected for military service, and instead he headed the Indian service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). He left the BBC in 1943 and became literary editor of the Tribune, a left-wing socialist paper associated with the British Labour leader Aneurin Bevan.

At this period Orwell was a prolific journalist, writing many newspaper articles and reviews, together with serious criticism, like his classic essays on Charles Dickens and on boys’ weeklies and a number of books about England (notably “The Lion and the Unicorn”, 1941) that combined patriotic sentiment with the advocacy of a libertarian, decentralist socialism very much unlike that practiced by the British Labour Party.

George Orwell's Book “Animal Farm”, which was first published in 1945 in Great Britain.

In 1944 Orwell finished Animal Farm, a political fable based on the story of the Russian Revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin.

In the book a group of barnyard animals overthrow and chase off their exploitative human masters and set up an egalitarian society of their own.

Eventually the animals’ intelligent and power-loving leaders, the pigs, subvert the revolution and form a dictatorship whose bondage is even more oppressive and heartless than that of their former human masters. (“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”) At first Orwell had difficulty finding a publisher for the small masterpiece, but when it appeared in 1945, Animal Farm made him famous and, for the first time, prosperous.

Animal Farm was one of Orwell’s finest works, full of wit and fantasy and admirably written. It has, however, been overshadowed by his last book, “Nineteen Eighty-four” (1949), a novel he wrote as a warning after years of brooding on the twin menaces of Nazism and Stalinism.

The novel is set in an imaginary future in which the world is dominated by three perpetually warring totalitarian police states. The book’s hero, the Englishman Winston Smith, is a minor party functionary in one of those states. His longing for truth and decency leads him to secretly rebel against the government, which perpetuates its rule by systematically distorting the truth and continuously rewriting history to suit its own purposes. Smith has a love affair with a like-minded woman, but then they are both arrested by the Thought Police.

The ensuing imprisonment, torture, and reeducation of Smith are intended not merely to break him physically or make him submit but to root out his independent mental existence and his spiritual dignity until he can love only the figure he previously most hated: the apparent leader of the party, “Big Brother”.

Smith’s surrender to the monstrous brainwashing techniques of his jailers is tragic enough, but the novel gains much of its power from the comprehensive rigor with which it extends the premises of totalitarianism to their logical end: the love of power and domination over others has acquired its perfected expression in the perpetual surveillance and omnipresent dishonesty of an unassailable and irresistible police state under whose rule every human virtue is slowly being suborned and extinguished.

Orwell’s warning of the potential dangers of totalitarianism made a deep impression on his contemporaries and upon subsequent readers, and the book’s title and many of its coined words and phrases (“Big Brother is watching you,” “newspeak,” “doublethink”) became bywords for modern political abuses.

Orwell wrote the last pages of “Nineteen Eighty-four” in a remote house on the Hebridean island of Jura, which he had bought from the proceeds of Animal Farm. He worked between bouts of hospitalisation for tuberculosis, of which he passed away in a London hospital in January 1950.e its first appearance in the 1949 dystopian novel 1984, the phrase “Big Brother is Watching You” has served as a reminder that a government or entity can take a person’s privacy. 

The Royal Mint UK Coins:

Celebrate the life and legacy of George Orwell with a coin that portrays key themes of Orwell’s writings on the reverse

- Although the statement Big Brother is Watching Youis usually a warning, the Royal Mint repurposes this iconic phrase for a more celebratory cause - a new series release that honours the life and work of the book’s author, George Orwell.

- The series, “George Orwell: A Visionary Writer,” features a £2 commemorative coin in brilliant uncirculated, gold-proof, and silver-proof editions.

- The coin’s release coincides with the 75th anniversary of Orwell’s death and was created in partnership with the Orwell Foundation. 

The Reverse of the two Pounds Coin features the inscription ‘BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU’, a quote taken from 1984, which encircles the camera lens - ‘THERE WAS TRUTH AND THERE WAS UNTRUTH’, another quote from 1984, serves as the coin’s edge inscription.

The perfect collector’s piece or gift for fans of Orwell and his work

Finished to Brilliant Uncirculated standard, a higher quality finish than the coins you find your change

Accompanied by packaging that explores Orwell’s life and notable worksEvery edition includes a design by coin artist Henry Gray that appears like an eye at first. However, upon closer inspection, it is actually a camera lens. 

“With phones and cameras being everywhere in your house, and being listened to by advertisers on your phone, you are really aware of how you’re being surveyed – and that’s what 1984 is all about. It is about living in a culture where everything is looked at and you are constantly under pressure to conform. That’s why the eye (in the design) isn’t a realistic eye...”

The gold proof and piedfort editions are packaged in a commemorative box, while the brilliant uncirculated is sold in a blood red and black folio featuring text on the author’s life and legacy. The silver proof comes in a graphically pattern acrylic block that appears like Big Brother’s mind control tool.

Big Coin is Watching You:

From dystopian fiction to numismatic tribute - A new commemorative coin series honours George Orwell, the visionary author behind 1984 and Animal Farm, reminding collectors that Big Brother—and Big Coin—is always watching:

Since its first appearance in the 1949 dystopian novel 1984, the phrase “Big Brother is Watching You” has served as a reminder that a government or entity can take a person’s privacy. 

The series, “George Orwell: A Visionary Writer,” features a £2 commemorative coin in brilliant uncirculated, gold-proof, and silver-proof editions. 

The coin’s release coincides with the 75th anniversary of Orwell’s death and was created in partnership with the Orwell Foundation. Every edition includes a design by coin artist Henry Gray that appears like an eye at first. However, upon closer inspection, it is actually a camera lens. Surrounding the image overhead is the famous phrase, “Big Brother is Watching You,” and at the coin’s bottom edge reads another well-known line from the book, “There Was Truth, and There Was Untruth.”

The gold proof and piedfort editions are packaged in a commemorative box, while the brilliant uncirculated is sold in a blood red and black folio featuring text on the author’s life and legacy. The silver proof comes in a graphically pattern acrylic block that appears like Big Brother’s mind control tool.

Celebrate the life and legacy of George Orwell with a coin that portrays key themes of Orwell’s writings on the Reverse.

The Obverse of the Two Pounds Coin depicts an effigy of King Chasrles III fsacing left. The peripheral inscriptions are - "CHARLES III. D.G. REX. F.D. TWO POUNDS. 2025".


The Coin Album
The Coin Album


The Coin Album and the Information Brochure (IB)





Crypto Stamps with NFT:

:1) Croatian Crypto Stamp - 2, Croatia: A 50 HRK stamp (a combination of the analog and the digital) issued by "Hrvatska Posta" (Croatian Post) in coordination with the Croatian Blockchain community gathered around the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Association: Date of Stamp issue: 16.12.2020

2) Did You Know Series (49): Dogecoin (DOGE), Blockchain Mint, Singapore: Blockchain Mint has issued Silver DOGE Medals in three variants - i) Silver Dogecoin Cryptocurrency Medal Gem BU, ii) Silver Dogecoin Cryptocurrency Medal Proof-Like in Blister Pak, iii) Dogecoin Cryptocurrency Commemorative Medal Antiqued in Blister Pak: Date of Medal release/shipping: 05/2021

3) Did You Know Series (50): A Guest Post by Avery Wright: "Is Making the Crypto Space Legally Complaint Paving the Road to Mass (Blockchain) Adoption?" - A perspective:

4) Gibraltar Cryptocurrency Stamp: Stamp value 4 Pounds: Date of Stamp issue: 15.05.2021: (Pre-orderd accepted from 19.04.2021):

5) Bit-Coin Backed Banknotes are being envisaged by "Noteworthy" which are aimed at generating user confidence in the Cryptocurrency

6) "Blockchain Technology", Principality of Liechtenstein: A Crypto Stamp of CHF 5.20 titled "Perspective" issued by Liechtensteinische Post: Date of Stamp issue: 06.09.2021

7) "Bitcoin Logo", Niue Island: A $2 (Two Dollars) Silver Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) Coin features this iconic Logo of the well known Cryptocurrency: Year of Coin issue: 2022

8) Crypto-stamp - Rimec Nevera, Croatia: Hrvatska posta (Croatian Post) has issued a Crypto-stamp Souvenir Sheet (a combination of the analog and the digital) of One Stamp of HRK50.00 on a PVC background: Date of Crypto-stamp issue: 09.09.2021

9) "UN Crypto Stamps", United Nations: "New Technologies for the United Nations Stamp Series": United Nations Postal Administration brought out its first time ever UN Crypto Stamps, which run on Etherium Blockchain: Date of Stamps issue: 24.11.2020

10) "Equality", Liechtenstein: A "BlockChain Stamp Series: A Stamp 4.1 "Equality issued by Liechtensteinische Post (Philately Liechtenstein) with a face value of CHF 9.00): Date of Stamp issue: 09.09.2022

11) Croatian Crypto Stamp, Croatia: A 50 HRK Stamp (a combination of the analog and the digital) issued by "Hrvatska Posta (Croatian Post) in coordination with the Croatian Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Association: Date of Crypto Stamp issue: 09.09.2020

12) Crypto Stamp 4.0 - Grab the Bull by the Horns - set, Austria: Osterreichische Post AG (Austrian Post) has released a Joint-issue between two countries - Austria and Netherlands, featuring the new technology "Augmented Reality", with a new motif of the Bull: Date of Crypto Stamp issue: 28.10.2022

13) "UN Crypto Stamps", United Nations: "New Technologies for the United Nations Stamp Series": Series II of United Nations Crypto Stamps issued by the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) which run on Blockchain Technolgy: Date of Stamps issue:18.11.2022

14) 2022 NL Crypto Stamp - Duo Set Crypto The Netherlands (NL) + Oostenrijk (Austria) - Collectibles: Date of Joint Crypto Stamp issue: 22.09.2022

15) Nikola Tesla's inventions as motifs feature on Croatia's Fourth Crypto Stamp of 50 HRK issued by Hrvatska Posta (Croatian Post): Date of Crypto Stamp issue: 20.12.2022

16) "The Four Seasons" Crypto Stamps, Faroe Islands: The Faroe Islands Post (Posta Faroe Islands) has issued a set of four Crypto Stamps of 100 DKK (Danish Kroners) each featuring the "Four Seasons": Date of Stamp set issue: 23.06.2023

17) Professor Balthazar motifs feature on Croatia's Fifth Crypto Stamp of 7.80 Euro issued by Hrvatska Posta (Croatian Post): Date of Crypto Stamp issue: 07.09.2023

18) "Business Fox" or "Crypto Fox" with NFT. LiechtensteiLiechtsteinsche Post AG (Liechtenstein POst) has issued this Crypto Stamp in its continuimg series of Crypto Stamp issues: Date/Year of Crypto STamp issue: 02.09.2024

19) The World's first Multi-lateral Crypto Stamp, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands (Austria & BENELUX): Date/Year of Crypto Stamp issue: 21.10.2024

20) "Gibraltar Crypto Miniature Sheet Series" - A 5 Pounds Crypto Stamp celebrates the spirit of European Football issued by Gibraltar Post: Date/Year of Crypto Stamp issued: 04.07.2024

"Australian Shipwrecks" Coin Series:





Links to interesting Posts on Pirate coins from Tuvalu Islands:

The Treasure Ship Nuestra Senora de las Maravillas:


The Treasure ship: San Jose:


The Treasure Ship Santa Maria de la Concepcion:




Links to some other posts on shipwrecks:



El Cazador shipwreck:

The Clipper - Cutty Sark:


A Museum ship on the Thames:


Central Bank of Ireland issues:



3) Irish Myths & Legends: 1) The Children of Lir;2) Cu Chulain; 3) The Omniscient Salmon of Knowledge; 4) Werewolves of Ossory; 5) The Brown Bull of Cooley and Deirdre of the Sorrows: An Annual Mint Set from the Central Bank of Ireland, recreates/celebrates Irish Folk Tales (Issue date: 30.04.2018)







Bank of Ireland issues:


Northern Ireland Bank issues:

1) Northern Ireland Polymer Bank Issues: Danske Bank (10 Pounds Polymer Banknotes), Bank of Ireland (5 & 10 Pound Polymer Banknotes) to go into circulation in 2020/21

Links to posts on "The Mandalorian Classic Coin Collection on this Blog:

i) The Mandalorian, Niue Island: New Zealand Mint has issued Gold and Silver Coins depicting the popular STAR WARS spin-off; ii) "Grogu" ("Baby Yoda"): Year of Coin issue: 2021

2) "Cara Dune", Niue Island: Second Coin in "The Mandalrian Classic Coin Collection": New Zealand Mint has issued a $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Silver Coins depicting character from the STAR WARS Spin-off, on behalf of Niue Island: Year of Coin issue: 2021

3) "ASSASSIN DROID IG-11", Niue Island: Third Coin in "THe Mandalorian Classic Coin Collection": New Zealand Mint has issued a $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Silver Coins depicting characters from the STAR WARS Spin-Off, on behalf of Niue Island: Year of Coin issue: 2021

4) "GROGU" or "The CHILD" -("BABY YODA"), Niue Island: Fourth Coin in "The Mandalorian Classic Coin Collection": New Zealand Mint has issued a $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Silver Coins depicting characters from the STAR WARS Spin-off, on behalf of Niue Island: Year of Coin issue: 2021

5) "Grogu in his mobile Cradle/Pram" or "THE CHILD" - ("Baby Yoda"), Niue Island: Fifth Coin in "The Mandalorian Classic Coin Collection": New Zealand Mint has issued a $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Silver Coins depicting characters from the STAR WARS Spin-off, on behalf of Niue Island: Year of Coin issue: 2022

6) Ahsoka Tano, Niue Island: The Mandalorian Classic Coin Collection: New zealand Mint has issued Gold and silver Coins depicting the popular "STAR WARS" spin -off: Year of Coin issue: 2022

7) "BESKAR STEEL", Niue Island: "The Mandalorian Classic Coin Collection": New Zealand Mint has issued a $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Silver Rectangular Coin depicting the highly impenetrable protection material in the STAR WARS Spin-off, on behalf of Niue Island: Year of Coin issue: 2021

8) "Bo-Katan Kyrze", The Legendary Mandalorian Warrior, Niue Island: New Zealand Mint has issued $250 (Two Hundred Fifty Dollars - NZD) Gold, $25 Gold (Twenty Five Dollarrs - NZD) and $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Silver Coins depicting the popular STAR WARS spin-off: Year of Coin issue: 2022

Links to "Star Wars: A New Hope™":

7) The Sand Crawler ("The Mandalorian" & "Star Wars: A New Hope"), Niue Island: New Zealand Mint has issued $25 (Twenty Five Dollars - NZD) Gold and $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Silver Coins depicting the popular STAR WARS spin-off: Year of Coin issue: 2022

Links to posts on Boba Fett:

1) Boba Fett, New Zealand: An elegant Silver Miniature minted by the New Zealand Mint, features the popular Star Wars Bounty Hunter in full armour with his blaster at the ready: Date of issue: 10.12.2021

2) Boba Fett "Slave I" Starfighter, Niue Island: A One Oz Silver Coin depicts Fett's legendary spacecraft: Date of Coin issue: 10.12.2021 (with year of issue inscribed as 2022)

Other Links:

1) The "Empire's Death Star" (Star Wars), Niue Island: A Kilogram Dimensional Silver Coin of $ 100 NZD (Niue) minted by the New Zealand Mint on behalf of Niue Island:Year of Coin issue: 2021

2) "Star Trek", Starfield Command, United Federation of Planets, Tuvalu: $2 "Holey Dollar" united with a $1 "Delta" Coin-set 

3) "Dune" (a Science Fiction Novel) by Frank Herbert, APMEX, USA: A set of Silver and Gold Coins/Rounds issued by APMEX celebrating the most iconic themes from the 2021 movie, based on the Novel being released in October 2021: Date/Year of Coins issued: 2021

Links to The Bad Batch Coin Series:

1) HUNTER - The Leader of the "BAD BATCH - STAR WARS, Niue Island: New Zealand Mint has issued Silver $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Coins on behalf of Niue Island, depicting the "Clone Force 99" Group Leader: Year of Coin issue: 2022

2) WRECKER - The Demolition Expert of the "BAD BATCH" - STAR WARS, Niue Island: New Zealand Mint has issued Silver $2 (Two Dollars - NZD) Coins on behalf of Niue Island, depicting the "Clone Force 99": Year od Coin issue: 2022

"Star Wars" Collector Coin Series, UK:

1) Han Solo and Chewbacca, United Kingdom: Final designs released in "Star Wars" Collector Coin Series feature the duo: Date of Coins issue: 01/2024

Links, United Kingdom:

1) American Liberty amd Britannia, USA & UK: The United States Mint and Royal Mint, UK are working on a collaborative project which will entail elements of the two inonic coin Programmes: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2024

2) Did You Know Series (87): Basil Brown, a self-taught archeologist unearthed the Sutton Hoo Treasures - a 27 metre long (86 ft.) Anglo-Saxon burial ship, and an enormous Gold, Silver and other metals Treasures which were donated to the British Museum by Mrs. Edith Pretty, the owner of the site: Year of Treasure first excavated: 1939 (when World War II was looming large)

3) 2024 Great Britain: 100 Pounds 1-oz Gold Britannia BU: Coin minted by the Royal Mint , UK: Year of Coin issue: 2024

The World of the Snowman Coin Series:

i) "The World of the Snowman", United Kingdom (UK): "Christmas Coin Series": Sixth Coin in the Series - A 50-pence Coin issued by the Royal Mint (RM) features Raymond Briggs' timeless, magical tale of a young boy and his snowman: Date/Year of Coin issue: 11/2023

320 Years of Gibraltar:

1) 320 Years Anniversary of Gibraltar under British Sovereignty as a British Overseas Territory (BOT): A 50 Pence Coin issued by Gibraltar celenrating the milestone: Date/Year of Coin issue: 03.10.2024

MV Empire Windrush - 75 Years:

1) MV Empire Windrush - 75 Years," United Kingdom: i) The Arrival: ii) The Windrush Scandal - The Windrush Generation: iii) The Hostile Environment Policy: iv) Breaking New Ground: v) National Windrush Day: vi) The Stamp Set and Coin Combo issued by Royal Mail and Royal Mint, UK: Date/Year of Stamp issue: 22.06.2023:

2) "MV Empire Windrush - 75 Years," United Kingdom: i) The Arrival: ii) The Windrush Scandal - The Windrush Generation: iii) The Hostile Environment Policy: iv) Breaking New Ground: v) National Windrush Day: vi) The Stamp set and Coin combo issued by the Royal Mail and Royal Mint, UK: Date/Year of Combo issue: 22.06.2023

Music Legends Coin/Stamp Series:

1) "The Who", United Kingdom: The iconic Rock Group features on the latest "British Music Legends" Collector Coin Series issues from the Royal Mint UK: Date of Coin Release: 24.05.2021 

2) Music Giants III, QUEEN, UK: A comprehensive Coin and Stamps Combo issued by the Royal Mail UK in collaboration with the Queen Band and the Royal Mint, UK: Date of Coin & Stamp combo issue: 09.06.2020

3) "Rolling Stones", United Kingdom: "Music Legends Coin Series": Fifth Coin in the Series: Gold, Silver and Cupro-nickel Coins feature the timeless Rock Band: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2022

4) 50 Years of Pink Floyd: Two Commemorative Stamp sets (Presentation Sets) brought out by the Royal Mail, UK on 07.07.2016: 1) 50 Years of Pink Floyd: A set of six stamps issued, their most popular studio albums 2) Legendary Live Performances: A set of four stamps issued depicting four of their memorable tours

5) "Yellow Submarine", A song sung by the English Rock Band - "The Beatles" in 1966, Gibraltar: A 5 Pounds Silver Coin minted by the crown Mint features the iconic song sung by the legendary Rock Group: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2022

6) Iron Maiden (a Heavy Metal English Band), United Kingdom (UK): A set of eight stamps issued on the legendary Band by Royal Mail UK: Date of Stamp set issue: 12.01.2023

7) "Shirley Bassey", United Kingdom: "Music Legends Coin Series": Sixth Coin in the Series minted in Cupro-nickel, Gold and Silver features the timeless Diva who gave the title songs in three James Bond movies - "Diamonds ae Forever", "Moonraker" and Goldfinger": Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023

8) "The Police", United Kingdom: "Music Legends Coin Series": Seventh Coin in the Series minted by the Royal Mint, UK in Cupro-nickel, Gold and Silver features the timeless British Rock Band: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023

9) Music Giants IX - "Spice Girls", UK: A set of Stamps issued by the Royal Mail, UK features the popular Girl Band: Date of Stamp set issue: 11.01.2024

10) "The Who", United Kingdom (UK): 60 Years of "The Who" (1964-2024): Royal Mail UK has issued a set of eight (8) postage stamps celebrating the milestone: Date of Stamp set issue: 17.10.2024

11) Superstar Paul McCartney, United Kingdom (UK): New Gold and Silver Proof Coins in Popular Music Legends : "Music Legends Coin Series": Ninth Coin in the Series: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2024

12) Music Giants XI - AC/DC: 50th Anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album "High Viltage": Royal Mail, UK has releassed a set of special stamps featuring the Popular Australian Rock Band: Date/Year of Stamps set issue: 18.02.2025

Arthurian Links:

1) King Arthur: The first coin in the six coins "Camelot Series"



Links on other Railway Posts on this blog:

1) Celebrating 150 Years of serving the Indian Nation by the Railways in 2002-2003

2) 150th Anniversary of Railways in Japan (1872-2022): The Japan Mint has issued a 1,000 Yen Silver Coin to commemorate the milestone: Date/Year of Coin issue: 04.10.2022

Steam Power - Australian Rail Heritage Coin Series:






Other Links:





Classic Children's Literature Coin Series:


A Tribute to the Life of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022):

i) A Tribute to the Life of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) featuring "The Royal Cipher", British Antarctic Territory (BAT), "Proclamation", South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (SG & SSI), "Double Portrait", Falkland Islands: Pobjoy Mint, UK has brought out a limited edition 3-Coin 50 Pence Set with Pearl Black Finish and Privy Mark: Year of Coin issue: 2022:

ii) Charles III, United Kingdom: Effigy unveiled on memorial 5 Pound Crowns and 50 Pence Coins

iii) Late Queen Elizabeth II and Ascension of King Charles III: A Combo of i) Four Postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail Tallents House, Edinburgh and a ii) Memorial 50 Pence Coin Cover issued by the Royal Mint, UK

iv) The Coronation of King Charles III, United Kingdom: Gold and Silver Bullion Coins issued by the Royal Mint (UK) celebrate the event: Date/Year of Coins issue: 06.05.2023

v) Queen Elizabeth II's 90th Birthday: A Souvenir Sheet issued by the Royal Mail, UK featuring four generations of Windsors on 21.04.16 

vi) Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations (1952-2012): A Five Pound Commemorative coin issued by the Royal Mint, UK



1) 200 Years of the Discovery of Antarctica, Estonia: A 2 Euro Commemorative Coin dedicated the the Bicentenary of the Discovery of Antarcticca by Admiral Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin von Bellingshausen on board the "Vostok": Coin issue date: 01/2020

2) Solomon Islands: 250th Anniversary of Captain James Cook's first Pacific "Voyage of Discovery" and charting of New Zealand and Australia's East Coast: Date of Coin issue: 2020















Links: Postage Stamps from the British Isles:

























37) Sherlock Holmes, United Kingdom: A set of six stamps issued by Royal Mail, UK featuring the characters of the modern version of a TV Serial "Sherlock" started in 2010 by the BBC, together with Cupro-nickel & Silver Medals minted by the Royal Mint, UK: Date of Stamp Set issue: 18.08.2020














53) Gibraltar Cryptocurrency Stamp: Stamp value 4 Pounds: Date of Stamp issue: 15.05.2021: (Pre-ordered accepted from 19.04.2021)

54) The Calf Of Man Nature Reserve", Isle of Man, A British Crown Dependency (BCD): 75th Anniversary" Celebrations (1946-2021): A set of ten Stamps issued by the Isle of Man Post (IOMP) commemorating the milestone of this Biosphere Island: (Also includes the EUROPA Stamp on "Endangered National Wildlife" theme designated by PostEurop for 2021): Date of Stamps issue: 12.04.2021

55) "The Who", United Kingdom: The iconic Rock Group features on the latest "British Music Legends" Collector Coin Series issues from the Royal Mint UK: Date of Coin Release: 24.05.2021

56) "Sark - Dark Sky Island", Guernsey, A British Crown Dependency (BCD): This "GuernseyTogether" Series of stamps by Guernsey Post features drawings made by Sark school-children: Date of stamp set issue: 19.08.2020

57) Surfing in Jersey, a British Crown Dependency (BCD): A set if six stamps issued by Jersey Post featuring contemporary photographs taken by Jersey photographers: Date of Stamp Set issie: 18.05.2021

58) Dennis and Gnasher, United Kingdom: 70th Anniversary (1951-2021): A set of six Stamps issued by Royal Mail, UK, featuring the popular comic strip: Date of Stamp Set issue: 01.07.2021

59) The Palace of Westminster, United Kingdom: 10th Anniversary molestone (1870-2020): Royal Mail UK has issued a set of Ten Stamps featuring the iconic Palace: Date/Year of Coin issue: 30.07.2020

60) Industrial Revolutions, United Kingdom: Royal Mail, UK has brought out a set of stamps featuring the Industrial Revolutions: Date of Stamp Set issue: 12.08.2021

61) Frances Hodgson Burnett and "The Secret Garden", Alderney, A British Crown Dependency (BCD): A set of six postage stamps issued by Guernsey Post on behalf of Aldernay Islands: Date of Stamp set issue: 01.09.2021

62) "75th Anniversary of MENSA" (1946-2021", Isle of Man, A British  Crown Dependency (BCD): A set of six stamps issued by the Isle of Man Post (IOMP): Date of Stamp Set issue: 01.10.2021

63) Non-Value Indicator (NVI) Definitive Stamps, United Kingdom (UK): Date of Stamps issue: 01.02.2022

64) "Heart of the Forest", Guernsey , A British Crown Dependency (BCD): Guernsey Post has brought out the first part of a Stamp quartet which takes inspiration from the "Love Paper" Global Campaign: Date/Year of Stamp issue: 09.02.2022

65) Harvest of the Sea, Jersey, A British Crown Dependency (BCD): Jersey Post has issued a set of six stamps depicting six different sea foods: Date/Year of Stamp set issue: 17.02.2022










































Innovations in Science 50 Pence Coin Series:

Music Legends Coin Series:

1) "The Who", United Kingdom: The iconic Rock Group features on the latest "British Music Legends" Collector Coin Series issues from the Royal Mint UK: Date of Coin Release: 24.05.2021 

2) Music Giants III, QUEEN, UK: A comprehensive Coin and Stamps Combo issued by the Royal Mail UK in collaboration with the Queen Band and the Royal Mint, UK: Date of Coin & Stamp combo issue: 09.06.2020

3) "Rolling Stones", United Kingdom: "Music Legends Coin Series": Fifth Coin in the Series: Gold, Silver and Cupro-nickel Coins feature the timeless Rock Band: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2022

4) 50 Years of Pink Floyd: Two Commemorative Stamp sets (Presentation Sets) brought out by the Royal Mail, UK on 07.07.2016: 1) 50 Years of Pink Floyd: A set of six stamps issued, their most popular studio albums 2) Legendary Live Performances: A set of four stamps issued depicting four of their memorable tours

5) "Yellow Submarine", A song sung by the English Rock Band - "The Beatles" in 1966, Gibraltar: A 5 Pounds Silver Coin minted by the crown Mint features the iconic song sung by the legendary Rock Group: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2022

6) Iron Maiden (a Heavy Metal English Band), United Kingdom (UK): A set of eight stamps issued on the legendary Band by Royal Mail UK: Date of Stamp set issue: 12.01.2023

7) "Shirley Bassey", United Kingdom: "Music Legends Coin Series": Sixth Coin in the Series minted in Cupro-nickel, Gold and Silver features the timeless Diva who gave the title songs in three James Bond movies - "Diamonds ae Forever", "Moonraker" and Goldfinger": Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023

Links to "Great Engravers Coin Series":

1) "William Wyon", United Kingdom (UK): "Great Engravers Coin Series": First Coin in the Series features Wyon's Gothic Crown in Gold and Silver: Date/Year of Coin issue: 06.12.2021

2) "William Wyon", United Kingdom (UK): "Great Engravers Coin Series": Second Coin in the Series featuring the Obverse of Wyon's Gothic Crown in Gold and Silver: Date/Year of Coin issue: 02/2022 (with Date of issue marked as 2021)

3) "The Petition Crown", United Kingdom: "Master Engravers Coin Series": Thomas Simon's Crown Coin designed as a direct response to the newly restored King Charles II to consider his own work for use on English coinage: Date/Year of Coin issue: 2023

Royal Mail Designs based on Bernadetto Pistrucci's concepts

The World of David Walliams Coin Series:






 Posts on the UK Coins and Stamps:

"Tales of the Earth Coin Series": The Second Dinosaurs Collector Coin Series:

i) Prehistoric Temnodontosaurus, United Kingdom: "Tales of the earth Coin Series": First coin in the "Second Dinosaurs Collector Coin Series" features on Gold, Silver & Cupro-nickel 50 Pence Coin Variants: Date/Year of Coin issue: 25.02.2021 Variants

Myths & Legends Coin Series:

1) "ROBIN HOOD", United Kingdom: "Myths and Legends Coin Series": First Coin in the Series: Silver 2 UKP (2 Pounds) and Gold 100 UKP(100 Pounds) Bullion Coins issued by the Royal Mint UK featuring the famed/legendary Outlaw: Year of Coin issue: 2021

2) The Legend of Robin Hood, United Kingdom: Royal Mail, UK has issued a set of ten postage stamps depicting the legend of Robin Hood: Date of Stamp Set issue: 13.04.2023

3) "MERLIN", United Kingdom: "Myths and Legends Coin Series": Second Bullion Coin in the Series: Silver 2 UK Pounds & 5 UK Pounds and Gold 25 and 100 UK Pounds Bullion Coins and 5 Pounds Cupro-nickel issued by the Royal Mint UK featuring the legendary wizard: Year of Coin issue: 2023

A Tribute to the Life of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022):

i) A Tribute to the Life of Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) featuring "The Royal Cipher", British Antarctic Territory (BAT), "Proclamation", South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (SG & SSI), "Double Portrait", Falkland Islands: Pobjoy Mint, UK has brought out a limited edition 3-Coin 50 Pence Set with Pearl Black Finish and Privy Mark: Year of Coin issue: 2022:

"The Queen's Beasts" Coin Series, UK issues:



"Tales of the Earth - Dinosauria" Coin Series, UK issues:

Links to some other interesting posts from the British Isles and British Overseas Territories/Dependencies:

Central Bank of Ireland issues:



3) Irish Myths & Legends: 1) The Children of Lir;2) Cu Chulain; 3) The Omniscient Salmon of Knowledge; 4) Werewolves of Ossory; 5) The Brown Bull of Cooley and Deirdre of the Sorrows: An Annual Mint Set from the Central Bank of Ireland, recreates/celebrates Irish Folk Tales (Issue date: 30.04.2018)




Bank of Ireland issues:


Northern Ireland Bank issues:

1) Northern Ireland Polymer Bank Issues: Danske Bank (10 Pounds Polymer Banknotes), Bank of Ireland (5 & 10 Pound Polymer Banknotes) to go into circulation in 2020/21






Inspirations from Scottish History (Clydesdale Bank Banknotes): 

  
2) Commemorating Sir William Arrol and his creation the Forth Rail Bridge by issues of Britain's first ever 5 Pound Polymer Banknote
Banknotes from Royal Bank of Scotland:


British Crown Dependencies/Overseas Territories:



3) Currency & Coinage of the Bailiwick of Guernsey











22) "Medusa The Gorgon": British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT): A Silver Double Crown (4 Pounds), 2 Oz High relief Coin with antique Finish: Fourth Coin in the series titled "Mythical Creatures" issued by Pobjoy Mint UK on behalf of BIOT in 09/2018




27) Concorde, a Stamp set from Gibraltar, A British Overseas Territory (BOT): 50th Anniversary of the first Supersonic Passenger Carrying Airplane, jointly built by France and Great Britain: Stamp set issue date:  20.04.2019



30) Manannan, the First King of Isle of Man or Mann: A Silver 5 Pounds Coin brought out by the Isle of Man in collaboration with Coin Invest Trust (CIT) and minted by B.H. Mayer's Kunstprageanstalt, Munich

‎31) 200th Anniversary of John Keats' "Odes to a ....", Alderney Island: A set of six Postage stamps issued by Guernsey Post which brings out stamps on behalf of Alderney Island - 1) Ode on a Grecian Urn,(48p) 2) Ode on Indolence (65p), 3) Ode on Melancholy (66p), 4) Ode to a Nightingale (80p), 5) Ode to Psyche (90p), 6) Ode to Autumn (98 p) : Stamp Set issue date: 24.07.2019‎32) Isle of Mann: Celebrating the 200th Birth Anniversary of the Birth of Herman Melville, the author of the classic Moby Dick: A six Stamp Set issued on 22.07.2019





































Gold Sovereign Coins:
  



Silver Sovereign Coins:


British India Coinage:



3) Edward VII: King & Emperor  Coinage





5) The British Empire: A Case of Numismatic "Segregation": (Guest Post by Rahul Kumar)



 British Coinage:


2) Transformation of a Five shilling Coin (Crown) into the UK Twenty-five Pence & then the Five Pound Coin
4) The 350th Anniversary of the Guinea: A Two Pound Coin issued by the Royal Mint UK celebrating the milestone





 Commemorative British Coinage:



3) Coins commemorating London Olympics & Paralympics (2012)

5) Commemorating the 100th Birth anniversary of Christopher Ironside with his " Royal Arms" design on a 50 Pence coin issued by the Royal Mint, UK 

The Brixton Pound:


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