04 April 2022
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The Royal Mint has revealed a brand-new commemorative £5 coin marking 120 years since the first publication of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
The Royal Mint’s Ffion Gwillim created the design using original storybook illustrations, settling on an image showing Peter Rabbit surrounded by wildflowers, bees, and butterflies.
The coin is commemorative and will not be entering general circulation, but copies can be purchased directly from the Royal Mint Shop.
Speaking about the design, Ffion said:
'As the coin is a celebration of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, I knew from the beginning that I wanted the coin to be cheerful and have a celebratory feel. I took inspiration from the colourful floral illustrations seen throughout the book.
'Taking the different floral elements from pages in the book to create a new scene on a round coin was a welcomed design challenge – applying colour to such a detailed coin also took a lot of care and precision.'
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Peter Rabbit coins remain popular
Since 2016 The Tale of Peter Rabbit has been brought to life on a number of 50p and £5 coin designs, with Peter being the very first literary children’s character to appear on a Royal Mint coin.
Each Peter Rabbit design created since 2016 has evolved, demonstrating a different aspect of Peter Rabbit’s cheeky personality, as well as other loveable characters created by Beatrix Potter.
Recently, research from The Royal Mint revealed that more than half of 35–44-year-olds said that childhood character coins were the main reason for starting a collection (51%). The childhood character coins also inspired almost three quarters of Royal Mint’s collectors aged 18-24 (74%).
The Royal Mint’s Director of Commemorative Coin, Clare Maclennan, said:
'Coins remain Britain’s favourite collectable item. Their appeal continues to reach new collectors with the increasing popularity of our childhood character coins which celebrate some of the greatest childhood stories and characters we know and love on official UK coin.'
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter was first published in 1902 and since then the iconic rabbit in a blue jacket has gone on to win the hearts of millions of families around the world. The original Tale has sold over 46 million copies globally and has been published in 48 languages including Braille and Hieroglyphics.
What versions of the £5 coin are available?
The coin is available as gold and silver proof editions, as well as a Brilliant Uncirculated edition available from The Royal Mint website.
