WE'RE in the money

The Royal Mint is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pride in the UK with a specially-minted Pride 50p coin.

It’s the first time Pride has been celebrated on official UK coinage and the coin features all the colours of the rainbow flag.

The coin has been designed by Dominque Holmes, an east London artist, writer, and LGBTQ+ activist who’s got a varied artistic background that includes tattoo artistry. 

The coin design features Pride in London’s values of Protest, Visibility, Unity, and Equality in rainbows. With state-of-the-art colour printing technology, the iconic colours of the Pride progression flag are recreated with special-edition colour versions of the silver and BU coins. 

“It was a privilege to visit The Royal Mint and see our coin being made,” Asad Shaykh of Pride in London, said.“It humbles me greatly that the words that I coined for the brand- PROTEST, VISIBILITY, UNITY & EQUALITY – will be on an actual coin, opposite the Queen. This queer brown immigrant has come a long way, powered by hope, love and this city. Nowhere in the world had this been possible, except the UK. Pride in London feels very proud.”

Clare Maclennan, Director of Commemorative Coins at the Royal Mint said, “The 50th anniversary of Pride UK is a milestone celebration, and it is a privilege to mark 50 years of progress with this 50p coin. This is the first ever UK coin dedicated to Britain’s LGBTQ+ community, with colour printing technology capturing the spirit of Pride UK with its iconic rainbow colours.”

The Pride coin is part of the Royal Mint’s commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion, and follows the creation last year of its support group for LGBTQ+ employees, Enfys (Welsh for “rainbow”). As a sign of solidarity, the Royal Mint will also be making a contribution to London LGBT Community Pride C.I.C. 

Five million of the coins will be minted. The Pride 50p coin will not be in general circulation but can be purchased through the Royal Mint website. The range includes gold, silver, and brilliant uncirculated versions.

The Royal Mint has produced commemorative coins before – including ones celebrating David Bowie, Winnie the Pooh, and Team GB – but this is the first LGBTQ+ -themed coin.

Let’s hope there will be many more!