By order of The Queen, a trilogy of 50p coins has been released, featuring dinosaurs on them.

The Dinosauria Collection is actually the result of a collaboration between the Natural History Museum and The Royal Mint, which has seen dinosaurs featured on official UK 50p coins for the very first time.

The Dinosauria Collection (c) The Royal Mint

You won’t see them being used in shops though – as while they are official legal tender, they are also collectable coins, so while they can be used in exchange for settling 50p of debt, it will cost you £10 to buy the coin in the first place.

Being legal tender also means that they could only be issued by a Proclamation from The Queen herself, who takes advice from the Privy Council and issues the proclamation declaring the way the coins are to be made and decorated.

And signs off with God Save The Queen.

It’s all rather delightfully archaic.

The three coins feature a Megalosaurus, an Iguanodon and a Hylaeosaurus, along with the names and dates of their discoverers.

The coins were illustrated by paleo-artist Robert Nicholls with the guidance of Professor Paul Barrett from the Earth Sciences Department of the Natural History Museum – so they are as accurate as modern theory permits.

Which probably means that thanks to ongoing discoveries, in a century, people will look back at these coins much as people love the inaccurate depictions of the dinosaurs at Crystal Palace.

The coins are being sold by The Royal Mint.

The Dinosauria Collection (c) The Royal Mint

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2 comments
  1. Melvyn says:

    Surprised they don’t feature a Brexigon

  2. Wendy Hirst says:

    I ordered these for my grandson as he is a Dino ad child. Was very disappointed to find that, although they are a collectible they do not come with a presentation case 🙁

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