16 August 2023
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On 24 July, The Royal Mint unveiled the latest coin in its Music Legends series, which this time is celebrating The Police.
Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the band’s classic, triple-GRAMMY-winning album Synchronicity, this release is the first time The Royal Mint have honoured music pioneers The Police on an official UK coin.
The £5 coin’s design, personally approved by the band and created by Heena Glover, pays tribute to Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, by using their three silhouettes to represent the masterminds behind one of the greatest bands in British music history.
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To recognise the iconic artwork for the band’s 1983 album Synchronicity, the colours red, blue and yellow feature on a selection of coins in the collection. Using the latest innovative colour printing techniques, these colours have been added to the coin to bring the design to life.
Heena Glover, the coin’s designer said of her design,
‘The key part was to make sure it reflected the band’s DNA and the magic they produced when they got together as a band. Identifying the key values and individual contribution was also a good starting point. It is always challenging to work to such a small scale, and at the same time to design a coin that is instantly recognisable and desirable to both The Police fans and other coin collectors. It was important to portray the band’s energy and innovation, which I trust comes through in this coin.’
Previous coins in The Royal Mint’s Music Legends series have celebrated:
- Queen
- David Bowie
- Elton John
- The Who
- Rolling Stones
- Dame Shirley Bassey
Formed in 1977, The Police were an iconic live band, with Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers playing with both the improvisational instincts of a jazz trio and the raw energy of a punk rock band.
Together, they released five studio albums, sold over 50 million albums worldwide and earned six GRAMMY Awards, two BRITs, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.
Each version of the 38.61mm coin is available as gold proof, silver proof, colour silver proof, brilliant uncirculated and colour brilliant uncirculated editions.
