The Royal Mint celebrates 50 years of fun with a new commemorative coin collection featuring the ‘Mr. Men Little Miss Characters
- The commemorative coin collection features, Mr Happy, Little Miss Giggles, Mr Strong and Little Miss Sunshine and have been exclusively designed by Adam Hargreaves.
- The characters’ feature on a commemorative £5 coin and are available in gold and silver, as well as a special colour printed ‘Brilliant Uncirculated’ edition
Under embargo 00:01 UK time, Tues 16th February 2021: The Royal Mint, the Original Maker of UK coins, has today launched a commemorative coin collection to celebrate 50 years of fun with some of the Mr. Men Little Miss characters.
The Mr. Men Little Miss commemorative coin collection features Mr Happy, Little Miss Sunshine, and Little Miss Giggles with Mr Strong on a £5 crown. All three coin designs have been created exclusively by Adam Hargreaves, son of creator Roger Hargreaves, to celebrate the characters' 50th anniversary. The Brilliant Uncirculated edition of the coin features the latest colour printing techniques showcasing the Mr. Men Little Miss characters in vivid colour - capturing their vibrant personalities. The Royal Mint will also be hiding 50 golden Mr Tickle tickets amongst all three of the colour brilliant uncirculated commemorative coins. Every customer that finds a gold Mr Tickle ticket will be entitled to a Mr Men and Little Miss prize bundle.
Clare Maclennan, Divisional Director of Commemorative Coin at The Royal Mint spoke with Adam Hargreaves in a zoom call, where they discussed the designs and characters, the excitement around Mr. Men Little Miss turning 50 and what steps The Royal Mint takes to produce a coin that celebrates an occasion such as this.
Clare comments, “Each year we celebrate British icons, anniversaries and moments from history on commemorative coins, and this is a fun new addition to the collection. With this year marking the 50th anniversary since the Mr. Men Little Miss characters were introduced to the world, it felt right to celebrate the loveable characters on their own commemorative coins.
“All three coin designs have been designed exclusively by Adam Hargreaves, son of Roger Hargreaves the original creator and illustrator of the Mr. Men Little Miss. I had the pleasure of chatting to Adam in a recent zoom call and it was brilliant to hear his positive feedback on the range.”
Adam Hargreaves, son of Roger Hargreaves, main author and illustrator of Mr. Men and Little Miss and designer of the Mr. Men Little Miss commemorative coin collection said, “It is an absolute honour to not only have the Mr. Men Little Miss characters’ feature on official UK commemorative coins but to have the opportunity to create the designs that feature on the coins too. Over the past 50 years Mr. Men Little Miss characters’ have grown to become a global favourite amongst many and I am delighted to be celebrating 50 years of fun with The Royal Mint and I hope fans of the Mr. Men Little Miss series will be just as thrilled with this commemorative coin collection as I am.”
Created by prolific illustrator Roger Hargreaves in 1971, the Mr. Men Little Miss books and their ever-growing world of ‘Happyland’ have become a global favourite amongst many. The inspiration came in the form of a simple question: what does a tickle look like? The answer was Mr. Tickle, who is now one of more than 90 characters in an ever-growing collection, read in multiple languages in more than 24 countries around the world. Today, the Mr. Men Little Miss characters are illustrated by Roger’s son, Adam, captivating a new generation of fans with each passing decade.
The first coin in the series features Mr. Happy and is available as gold and silver Proof editions, as well as a Brilliant Uncirculated edition and a special colour printed Brilliant Uncirculated edition, exclusively available from The Royal Mint. Visit www.royalmint.com/MrMen to view the full commemorative coin range. The coin will not be going into general circulation.
The 50th Anniversary of Mr. Men 2021 UK Commemorative Coin Specifications
Coin title |
Mr. Men The 50th Anniversary of Mr. Men 2021 UK £5 Brilliant Uncirculated Coin |
Mr. Men The 50th Anniversary of Mr. Men 2021 UK £5 Brilliant Uncirculated Coloured Coin |
Mr. Men The 50th Anniversary of Mr. Men 2021 UK Half-Ounce Silver Proof Coin |
Mr. Men The 50th Anniversary of Mr. Men 2021 UK One Ounce Silver Proof Coin |
Mr. Men The 50th Anniversary of Mr. Men 2021 UK Quarter-Ounce Gold Proof Coin |
Mr. Men The 50th Anniversary of Mr. Men 2021 UK One Ounce Gold Proof Coin |
Denomination |
£5 |
£5 |
£1 |
£2 |
£25 |
£100 |
Issuing Authority |
UK |
UK |
UK |
UK |
UK |
UK |
Alloy |
Cupro-Nickel |
Cupro-Nickel |
999 Ag Fine Silver |
999 Ag Fine Silver |
999.9 Au Fine Gold |
999.9 Au Fine Gold |
Weight |
28.28g |
28.28g |
15.71g |
31.21g |
7.80g |
31.21g |
Diameter |
38.61mm |
38.61mm |
27.00mm |
38.61mm |
22.00mm |
32.69mm |
Obverse Designer |
Jody Clark |
Jody Clark |
Jody Clark |
Jody Clark |
Jody Clark |
Jody Clark |
Reverse Designer |
Adam Hargreaves |
Adam Hargreaves |
Adam Hargreaves |
Adam Hargreaves |
Adam Hargreaves |
Adam Hargreaves |
Quality |
Brilliant Uncirculated |
Brilliant Uncirculated |
Proof |
Proof |
Proof |
Proof |
Additional Features |
N/A |
Digital printing on reverse |
N/A |
Digital printing on reverse |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Limited Edition Presentation |
Unlimited |
15,000 |
9,000 |
6,500 |
750 |
275 |
RRP |
£13.00 |
£22.50 |
£65.00 |
£97.50 |
£605.00 |
£2,370.00 |
Media enquiries - The Royal Mint Press Office:
0845 600 5018 (calls cost 5p per minute) or email press.office@royalmint.com www.facebook.com/theroyalmint
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The Royal Mint has an unbroken history of minting British coinage dating back over 1,100 years. Based in the Tower of London for over 500 years, by 1812 The Royal Mint had moved out of the Tower to premises on London’s Tower Hill. In 1967 the building of a new Royal Mint began on its current site in South Wales, UK, to accommodate the minting of UK decimal coinage.
Today, The Royal Mint is the world’s largest export mint, supplying coins to the UK and overseas countries.
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The Royal Mint entered the tourism business in 2016 when it opened its popular visitor centre, The Royal Mint Experience, at its home in Llantrisant, South Wales. The attraction welcomes around 100,000 visitors a year.