The Royal Mint, official maker of UK coins, has today unveiled a set of commemorative coins celebrating music pioneers The Police. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the band’s classic, triple-GRAMMY-winning album ‘Synchronicity’, this release marks the first time The Royal Mint have honoured The Police on an official UK coin.

The coin’s design, personally approved by the band and created by Heena Glover, pays tribute to Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, by featuring three silhouettes to represent the masters behind one of the greatest bands in British music history.

In a special nod to the iconic artwork for the band’s 1983 album ‘Synchronicity’, the colours red, blue and yellow feature on a selection of coins in the collection. Using the latest innovative colour printing techniques, The Royal Mint’s craftspeople have successfully added these colours onto the coin in vivid detail, bringing the design to life.

Heena Glover, The Police coin’s designer said of her design, “The key part was to make sure it reflected the band’s DNA and the magic they produced when they got together as a band. Identifying the key values and individual contribution, was also good starting point. It is always challenging to work to such a small scale, and at the same time to design a coin that is instantly recognisable and desirable to both The Police fans and other coin collectors. It was important to portray the band’s energy and innovation, which I trust comes through in this coin.”

Rebecca Morgan, Director of Commemorative Coin at The Royal Mint said, “With a music legacy spanning nearly half a century, The Police have undoubtedly paved themselves as music legends with their unique sound and impressive string of chart-topping hits. It is for this very reason The Police take centre stage on their own collectable coin as part of The Royal Mint’s Music Legends coin series. The Police collectable coin serves as a permanent tribute to the band’s ground-breaking career, and we hope fans of The Police across the world are pleased with this sensational design.”

Previous coins in The Royal Mint’s Music Legends series have celebrated, Queen, David Bowie, Elton John, The Who, Rolling Stones and most recently Dame Shirley Bassey.

Formed in 1977, The Police were an iconic live band that galvanised a peerless studio sound out of their otherworldly performances. Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers played with both the improvisational instincts of a jazz trio and the raw energy of a punk rock band. Together they released five studio albums, sold over 50 million albums worldwide and earned six GRAMMY Awards, two BRITs, and were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2019, Sting was honoured at the BMI Pop Awards for his enduring hit single with The Police, “Every Breath You Take.” With over 15 million radio plays, the song has become the Most Performed Song from BMI’s catalogue of over 14 million musical works. The song has also been added to Spotify’s ‘Billions Club,’ having amassed over 1 billion streams on the platform.

Each design is available as gold Proof, silver Proof, Brilliant Uncirculated and colour Brilliant Uncirculated editions from The Royal Mint’s website.

About The Royal Mint:

With a history spanning more than 1,100 years, The Royal Mint is one of Britain’s oldest companies and the original maker of UK coins.  Today The Royal Mint is a premium British maker, providing carefully crafted coins and precious metal products for the UK and overseas.  Based in Llantrisant, South Wales it has three main focuses as a business: Currency, Consumer (collectable and rare, historic coins) and precious metals investment.

Collecting with The Royal Mint:

Every coin tells a story, from a rare gold Sovereign to a Peter Rabbit™ 50p coin. The Royal Mint aims to inspire collectors young and old, and nurture a love of collecting through unique designs and popular themes. As the maker of UK coinage, we have unparalleled knowledge about coins, from the historic coins of our past, through to the collectable commemorative coins of today.  Sourcing and authenticating pre decimal coins is a natural fit for The Royal Mint as we struck each one.

Investing with The Royal Mint:

As a world authority on precious metals, The Royal Mint has traded and made products in gold and silver for centuries. Since launching its designated precious metals investment arm six years ago, The Royal Mint has grown rapidly to become the home of gold in the UK – increasing its market share and becoming the largest producer of bullion coins in Britain. As well as offering physical precious metal investment options in the form of bars and coins, The Royal Mint also offers a range of digital investment options including DigiGold, Little Treasures, designed for children, and Gold for Pensions

Celebrating with The Royal Mint:

For over a thousand years The Royal Mint has marked the moments that changed the world on coins - from coronations to conflict, from commemorations to celebrations. The designs are captured on commemorative coins, minted in a range of metals.  Commemorative coins do not always enter circulation but give collectors the chance to purchase coins to keep and cherish.  Recent themes have included David Bowie, Winnie the Pooh, Decimalisation and Team GB. Each commemorative coin is carefully struck up to three times in order to create a superbly detailed finish, and ensuring each one meets the standards The Royal Mint is famous for.

The Royal Mint Experience:

The Royal Mint opened its popular visitor centre, The Royal Mint Experience, at its home in Llantrisant, South Wales in 2016. Since opening the award-winning attraction has welcomed around 400,000 visitors through its doors and is the place to explore the 1,100-year history of coins.

Images:

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