The Royal Mint, in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s Natural History Museum, has launched a new series of collectible 50p coins featuring dinosaurs. The series, titled “Tales of Earth,” aims to showcase the mighty dinosaurs that once ruled the Earth. The first coin in the series features the apex predator, Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-rex), marking the first time the fearsome carnivore has been depicted on a UK fifty pence piece. The collection is a three-part series, with the Stegosaurus and Diplodocus being featured on the second and third coins, respectively.
Prices for the dinosaur-themed coins start at £11 ($13.90), with the most expensive coin in the collection being the Gold Proof Coin, priced at £1,220 ($1,541.51). The coins are available for purchase on the Royal Mint website.
The designs for the coins were created by paleo-artist Robert Nicholls in collaboration with the Natural History Museum’s Professor Paul Barrett. The designs aim to provide accurate reconstructions of the dinosaurs and their habitats based on current scientific understanding. Some of the coins in the series will feature colors to bring the prehistoric creatures to life.
Nicholls explained that creating the designs involved a focus on getting the anatomy and proportions of the dinosaurs right. However, the challenge arose in featuring such large creatures on the small 50p coins. For the T-rex coin, the perspective was adjusted to ensure viewers were looking up at the animal, giving it a sense of scale. The Diplodocus coin presented a unique challenge due to the dinosaur’s long body, tail, and neck. Nicholls used forced perspective by bringing the head forward and twisting the tail away to fit the long creature into the round shape of the coin.
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