Opinion
On Friday 13th October, the Royal Mint announced a new set of coins to mark the beginning of King Charles the Third’s reign. A long-standing tradition, of course. However, it is the intricate details engraved upon the silverware’s surface that entice a keen coin collector. Athletic 50 pences marking the 2012 Olympic games - Beatrix Potter inspired £2 coins, even the dismissed precision of the standard British coin, aligned to create the Royal Shield of Arms formation. The new set lacks anything like this. Their appearance is, bluntly, tragic - though perhaps this an accurate metaphor for the future of cash in the UK.
Set to enter circulation by the end of 2023, the newest additions feature aspects of nature, said to be beloved by the King: a dormouse, a squirrel, a leaf, a capercaillie, a puffin, a salmon, bees, and each country’s national flower. Patriotic? Limitedly. Much less so than the previous 2008 set. We are no longer that shield, defensive of our homeland; we are dormice. Director at the Royal Mint, Rebecca Morgan, deemed the animals “appealing to children” as “great conversation starters”. I wasn’t aware that legal tender was designed with key-stage-one children in mind. Besides - dormice are clearly much more exciting than crowned lions across the face of a coin. Children are surely more interested in a leaf. Shying away from using our national animal is an obvious sign that we are no longer proud of our nationality - concerning, considering they are, as Morgan outlines, promoted towards young children. How can you incorporate six animals and exclude a lion, if not in aid of erasing any pride of being British? While they’re at it, we should probably change our football anthem, too. ‘Three bees on the shirt…’
My only consolation is that each piece is divided into two - half the designated animal and half stating the value of the coin, in the most obnoxious size possible. Morgan again excuses this as ‘appealing to young children learning to count’ - because money is famously only used by toddlers learning numbers. The coin design is embarrassing. It seems apparent that the current, subtle inscription on our recent coins is no longer good enough. Are the nation’s children losing their eyesight? Specsavers, anyone? The sheer size of the font truthfully makes our coins bear more resemblance to a Euro than a British pound.
Blair must be squirming.
Perhaps, though, the nose-dive in appearance and prestige of our tender is reflective of the nation’s attitude towards cash. According to UK finance, only around 15% of transactions were completed via cash in 2022. Even I have recently succumbed to the practicality of Apple Pay, and the last time I used cash is a memory lost to the past. The problem is, though, so are most contactless transactions. Their convenience is undeniable, but it’s not incredulous to suggest that they are potentially too convenient. They lack any sense of financial loss. Taping your phone on the card reader lacks the physical sense of loss that handing over selected notes and coins brings. In a shaky economic period, in which many grapple with saving, I believe we should be encouraging cash usage - not introducing new coinage and openly admitting they are designed almost purely for young children. Kids can learn to count with an abacus. Of course, paying with cash isn’t going to be the defining difference in affording rent, or a deposit - but every little helps.
UK Finance predicts that by 2031, cash payments will take up just 6% of transactions. Cash, in reality, is on its way out, regardless of which irrelevant animal the Royal Mint engraves on its surface. Those coins will probably be the first and last an infant born today will touch. They’ll move on to Apple Pay by the time they’re five, keeping TikTok and Youtube Shorts open in the background as they pay for their rainbow-unicorn-flavoured e-cigarette.