Since 2012 The Royal Mint has struck a special Remembrance Day Alderney £5 Coin featuring the poppy – a widely recognised symbol of remembrance – to honour servicemen and women who have lost their lives in times of war.
The Royal Mint’s Remembrance Day coin for 2015 bears a poignant composition by Royal Mint Engraver Glyn Davies who, taking transience as his theme, was inspired not only by personal loss but also the concept of the transformation of Flanders Fields.
Creating the design was a moving task, as Glyn explains:
“When I considered what remembrance meant to me, I felt it was about putting myself in the position of someone who has experienced grief. Not everyone will have lost someone through conflict, but we can understand the feeling of losing a loved one. My mother died just over five years ago so I could relate to the subject of loss. I was also able to use photographs of the poppy fields that surrounded my parents’ house for reference. I wanted to create a narrative and sense of transience.
“Taking my inspiration from Flanders Fields, the design shows how the landscape would eventually be transformed by the turmoil, in contrast to the fields of poppies that subsequently grew as a direct result of the war’s destruction.”
Anne Jessopp, Director of Commemorative Coin, said “Glyn’s moving design for The Royal Mint’s 2015 Remembrance Day coin is a tribute to those we will never forget – in particular the servicemen and women who have lost their lives in conflicts past and present.”
The coin is accompanied by ex-serviceman Anthony Devanny’s poem “We Who Remain”. Endorsed by Imperial War Museums, every coin purchased includes a donation to help support their work in encouraging the study and understanding of the history of modern war.
Available in Silver Proof, Silver Proof Piedfort and Brilliant Uncirculated finishes, the coin has been colour-printed using a ‘trichromatic’ printing process that layers colour onto the coin to capture every detail of the vibrant red colouring of the poppy. The obverse features the coinage portrait of Her Majesty The Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS.
The Design and its Designer
An engraver at The Royal Mint since 2012, Glyn already has a medal for the Zoological Society and the ‘Portrait of Britain’ Collection to his name. His most recent work is the design for the coin commemorating 600 years since the Battle of Agincourt. Glyn worked as an animator before gaining a Masters Degree in Post Production at Bournemouth University. He subsequently worked as a set designer, video editor and motion graphic designer before joining The Royal Mint.
Anthony Devanny – Author of ‘We Who Remain’
Anthony first enlisted into his local Infantry Battalion, The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, which is now part of The Yorkshire Regiment. Over his 23 years in the British Army, Anthony served in many operations, including Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and three tours of Afghanistan; he received The Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service (QCVS) for work in Iraq. His poem reminds us that remembrance, conflict and its impact goes on.
“Having “We Who Remain” chosen by The Royal Mint to accompany the 2015 Remembrance Coin is extremely humbling. I hope the poem is well received by those who come across it and that they all understand what I was thinking and feeling at that time and every day since.”
We Who Remain
We are indeed the lucky and unlucky ones,
As we are the ones who have lived to tell the tales of those we once knew.
We are the ones who carry those scars of things seen, done and lost.
We are the ones who must never let those who are not here be forgotten by the new.
We are the ones who will never need to be reminded that, “We will remember them,”
As we are the ones who will always remember those we forever call friend.
