Anglican Bishop designs UK’s first Christmas coin

The Royal Mint turned to an appropriate source for the design of the United Kingdom’s first Christmas coin.

The Brilliant Uncirculated .999 fine silver £20 coin’s design, a nativity scene inspired by 2,000 years of storytelling, was designed by Bishop Gregory Cameron, who also designed the reverse of the last commemorative round £1 coin, released earlier in 2016.

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Cameron is a bishop of the Anglican Church in Wales, an artist and a coin collector. 

Cameron said, “While Christmas is based on a Christian story it is a festival for everyone; a time when we celebrate the affinity and closeness in our own families and beyond, and wish goodwill to all people.”

Coins have been a part of festive traditions and customs for centuries, like stirring a sixpence into the Christmas pudding for good luck. On Christmas Eve, children hang stockings on the mantelpiece hoping to find a coin there in the morning. A generous St. Nicholas is said to have begun this tradition by creeping down the chimney of a poor family to fill the daughters’ stockings with silver coins.

The £20 coin features the Jody Clark effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.

The coin is the latest in the Royal Mint’s series of £20 coins available at face value. 

The coin weighs 15.71 grams and measures 27 millimeters in diameter. It has a mintage limit of 30,000 pieces and is presented in a specially designed booklet with space for the recipient to note their favorite moments of 2016 and wishes for 2017. 

To order the coin, visit the Royal Mint website.


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