British Coin Puzzle

S. BALAKRISHNAN

          A small twenty pence British coin was making me go mad (‘As if you are not already fully mad’, someone is mumbling by me side); I could not make out the head or tail of that tiny coin – both figuratively and literally. The reverse of it showed the hind part of an animal with a long tail and clawed paws. Was it a fire-spitting dinosaur? My imagination went wild. Being a Harry Potter fan I hoped it could as well be a dragon, issued to honour the novel series and its author Ms. JK Rowling.

It was then it struck me like a lightening that I could use Google lens to identify objects. The iPhone had been gifted by my daughter; oh, not a brand new one but the one she was using.Because she had switched to a newer version she dumped (‘gifted’!) the older version. At 70+ yearsI am slowly struggling to learn its various uses and Google Lens is one such handy option. The search revealed that the coin is a part of a coin puzzle that forms the British Royal Coat of Arms. This fact aroused my interest further and I started nagging my relative living in London to get me all the six coins of that coin puzzle.

          Surprised that there was such a coin puzzle set at all, she assured to get me one. ‘We mostly use the phone to pay for all services & goods by just taping, so we hardly come across coins’, she explained. The next time she flew down to Chennai she did bring two such sets, rolled in toilet roll paper (Yuck!). But it was the premium Cushelle toilet roll paper of UK to give a cushiony effect to the dear coins. One set I promptly presented to her by beautifully (?) framing the coins in a glass photo frame. I thoughtfully attached two peacock feathers to add elegance to the simple photo frame.Wish she had brought the One Pound coin also that depicts the coat of arms on the reverse side. Instead I put up a one pound coin with the Queen’s bust. The total value of the set is 1.88 Pound Sterling which is 240.21 INR!

When UK’s Royal Mint called for new designs on the back side of coins in 2008, thewinning set was designed by Mr. Matthew Dent who said, “This piecing together of the elements of the Royal Arms to form one design had a satisfying symbolism – of uniting the four countries of Britain (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) under a single monarch”.The one pound coin at the top, showing the coat of arms, was the decision of the Committee that chose the final design. It was like icing on the cake.

As this coin puzzle set was designed in 2008 when Queen Elizabeth II was the ruler, the obverse of all these six coins invariably has the bust of the Queen. King Charles IIItook over on September 8, 2022 and was crowned on May 6, 2023.

The British Royal Coat of Arms has a quartered shield at the centre; three lions representing England are depicted on the top left quarter and bottom right quarter. On the top right section is the Scotland’s single rampant lion while the harp musical instrument on the bottom left quarter represents Ireland. This quartered shield is supported by the English lion on the left and by the Scottish unicorn on the right. At the bottom is the French motto ‘Dieu et mon droit’, meaning 'God and my right'. Though new designs are created when the next ruler ascends the throne, the constituent parts of the Royal Coat of Arms, however, have not changed and remain the same as they have been since Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. 

          I expected a perfect, closely-fitting puzzle, so I felt a bit disappointed by this British Royal Coat of Arms coin puzzle. But it was a novel idea created in the coins and, therefore, has added value to my numismatic collection.

(Email: krishnanbala2004@yahoo.co.in/Whatsapp - 9840917608)