A new set of Harry Potter 50p coins are being released by the Royal Mint to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling in 1997.
The new collection will feature the portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and the recently proclaimed King Charles III – The first two coins in the collection this year featuring the portrait of Her Late Majesty, and the final two coins, launching next year will feature the portrait of King Charles III.
The first coin in the series depicts Harry Potter himself and will be available to buy from the Royal Mint’s website from today and range anywhere from £11 for an uncirculated special edition 50p coin to £5,215 for a gold £200 denomination version.
The coins feature the work of Jim Kay, the artist who created the first fully illustrated edition of the Harry Potter story.
Jim Kay said: “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It is the same for most aspects of publishing – because you are on your own all of the time in a studio, none of it quite seems real until you see the book on a shelf in a shop. Then you think ‘oh yeah! I did that!’
“This is completely new to me though, a coin!”
Combining traditional minting techniques with technology, The Royal Mint’s craftspeople have reproduced his illustrations in colour for the first time on the collectable coins.
According to The Royal Mint, many of the coins will also have a ‘latent feature’ which rotates in the light to reveal a lightning bolt and the number ‘25’ to mark the anniversary year.
Ffion Gwillim, The Royal Mint designer who modelled the artwork onto the coins, said: “The Harry Potter illustrations are so iconic and recognisable, we wanted to faithfully recreate them on a UK coin for the first time. Working with Jim Kay, we’ve created a collection which is a fitting celebration to the original artwork and the iconic story.”
