It is if you work for the Royal Mint. Chums will know that I take childish delight in collecting the new commemorative coins issued each year, or at least I did when there was still a chance of spotting them in one’s change. Lately the newer ones have been mysteriously absent, but they could still be bought on the Mint’s website.
Today I logged on to look at the designs for 2011, to find that I may purchase the admittedly very attractive World Wildlife Fund 50p coin for £7.20. So that’s 50p for the coin and £6.70 for a bit of card. A couple of years ago this would have cost me £3.50. This price hike is taking all the fun out of collecting, and I for one will not be playing. Obviously not for nothing is it known as the Royal Mint but this is pushing it big time.
Mind you, they may struggle to sell the coin struck to mark the Royal Engagement, whereon Kate Middleton appears, pace The Guardian, “to have the flattened features of a pugilist”.
Anyway, time for my annual plea, should you find any of the under-noted in your loose change, and not be collecting them yourself, please contact me and I will arrange a monetary transaction of mutual satisfaction.
50p WWF
£1 Cardiff or Edinburgh
£2 The Mary Rose
£2 King James Bible
At a push, the £5 coins for Prince Philip’s 90th birthday or the nuptial event referred to above. Understand that this is more from a completeness angle rather than any Royalist sympathies. But I might have changed my mind after I have been to see The King’s Speech.