I Just Learned The Royal Mint Hid A Pattern In Coins And I'd Never Have Noticed

You might already know how pounds got called a “quid,” or why the £1 coin has 12 sides.

But I’d never even heard of Sterling coins joining up together to form a Power Rangers-style aggregate ― and judging by the comments under the video explaining it, it looks like I’m not alone. 

In a recent Instagram Reel, Jordon Cox (who goes by Coupon King) said “I didn’t know coins did this” before laying a selection down on a table and showing the resulting motif. 

Which is?

If you “find the right UK coins between 1p & 50p, and they can be arranged in a shield pattern,” the Instagram user said.

“I’m shook – and I’ve been a ‘money expert’ for 12 years,” they added.

The Royal Mint confirms that this was intentional. 

The Royal Mint Advisory Committee looked at multiple designs for six coins that could “work alone or as a set.”

The winning designer was Matthew Dent, who created a “heraldic” shield design from the coins which only appeared when they were grouped together. 

“I felt that the solution to The Royal Mint’s brief lay in a united design,” he shared.

“United in terms of theme, execution and coverage over the surface of the coins.”

At first he toyed with the idea of using birds, buildings, plants, or beaches. 

But then he thought the six coins could join up to form a heraldic shield. 

“This piecing together of the elements of the Royal Arms to form one design had a satisfying symbolism – of uniting the four countries of Britain under a single monarch” he told the Royal Mint. 

What about the £1 coin?

Jordon’s video included coins up to 50p but didn’t mention the one-pound coin. 

That’s fair enough ― when the Royal Mint were coming up with the idea they initially only included the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p pieces.

“The £1 was initially left out of the competition,” they say. 

But, “As the committee discussed Matthew’s designs, they felt that the designs needed one, final piece to bring the set together as a unit. It became clear that the £1 coin should be part of the new designs.”

As a result, the £1 coin features a shield that mimics the shield the rest of the coins form. 

Who knew?