The Halloween season is upon us, is this really a shocking development?
The Royal Mint is celebrating the 200th anniversary since the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel, The Modern Prometheus, with the launch of a £2 commemorative Frankenstein coin.
Mary Shelley’s novel is a classic of modern literature and The Royal Mint celebrates this on an official UK commemorative coin.
On a stormy night in 1816, a group of friends gathered at a villa on the shores of Lake Geneva to tell each other ghost stories. The company, including the poets Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, had been discussing the latest scientific controversy – was human life simply biological or did it contain ‘the divine spark’ of God? That night Mary Godwin (later Mary Shelley), experienced a fevered dream about the birth of a terrible creature that was to become one of the most famous horror stories ever written.
The Frankenstein coin was designed by Thomas T. Docherty, a member of The Royal Mint Coin Design team. Thomas’ ‘spark’ of inspiration came from the power of Mary Shelley’s words bringing her monster to life. Thomas used this to create his own interpretation of the ‘spark of being’.
Thomas said of his design, “As this is the anniversary of Mary Shelley’s novel, I really wanted to get a feel for the original story. I am passionate about typography, and for a coin celebrating her story, it seemed appropriate to create a design made up of words – extending to the full title of The Modern Prometheus. The creature is lifeless, brought to life, then returns to death. I was inspired by ECG, the jagged pulse of a heartbeat – before the name there is nothing, then the spark of life, which dies to nothing once more.”
The Frankenstein Coin is available in Brilliant Uncirculated, Silver Proof, Silver Proof Piedfort, and Gold Proof finishes.
About The Royal Mint
The Royal Mint has an unbroken history of minting British coinage dating back over 1,100 years. Based in the Tower of London 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 South Wales, UK, to accommodate the minting of UK decimal coinage.
Today, The Royal Mint is the world’s largest export mint, supplying coins to the UK and overseas countries.
The Royal Mint has also diversified into a number of other complementary businesses, building on the values that have been at the heart of the organization throughout its history – authenticity, security, precious metals, craftsmanship and design:
Bullion and Precious Metals
Throughout history, The Royal Mint’s name has been synonymous with precious metals and bullion. The organization trades physical and digital precious metal worldwide via www.royalmintbullion.com and a global network of distributor partners.
Consumer coin division
The organization runs a thriving commemorative coin business, gifting, and a collector services division retailing historic coins, an authentication and valuation service, and secure storage.
The Royal Mint Experience
The Royal Mint entered the tourism business in 2016 when it opened its popular visitor center, The Royal Mint Experience, at its home in Llantrisant, South Wales. The attraction welcomes around 100,000 visitors a year, and in 2018 was the recipient of the Visit Wales Gold VAQAS Award for the excellence of facilities and customer service.
