The Baby Collection Deluxe Edition

The ultimate gift set for a new born baby or christening, this set includes the new commemorative Charles Dickens £2 coin, plus all eight definitive coins for 2012, from the 1p to the £2. They are all struck to Brilliant Uncirculated quality – a higher standard than the coins minted for everyday coinage.

The set comes in a beautifully designed box with a gorgeous booklet for you to write your own special message. The coins are arranged to show the Royal shield, which is featured on the reverse of the coins. Only the £1 coin has the whole shield; the denominations from the 1p to the 50p each feature part of the shield and need to be seen together to appreciate the design.

There is only one commemorative £2 coin for 2012, making it all the more special. It celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, and shows a portrait of the great author made up of titles of some of his works.

All the coins feature on the obverse the acclaimed portrait of the Queen by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS, which has been used on all legal tender UK coinage since 1998. These coins were all designed and struck by our master craftsmen at The Royal Mint, as we are the official makers of UK legal tender coins.

When you buy this set for a new baby it is destined to become a unique treasured gift, as each coin carries the year baby was born. It is a timeless keepsake which will be cherished for years to come. Each coin has a protective capsule to preserve its condition for posterity, so you have the satisfaction of knowing that this is a gift that will truly last a lifetime.

Inspirational new designs for the UK coinage made their debut in 2008. The designs had been chosen from over 4,000 entries in an open competition and, in a bold concept unprecedented in British coinage, six coins unite to reveal a single image - a shield of the Royal Arms. Initially there had been no plans for a new reverse for the £1 coin, but during the selection process, the Royal Mint Advisory Committee felt that the coin should be part of the series and so the £1 coin became the key coin uniting the designs.

The Royal Arms of the present reign has remained virtually unchanged since the reign of Queen Victoria: the shield is quartered with ‘England’, three lions passant guardant, in the first and fourth quarters, the Scottish lion rampant in the second and the harp of Ireland in the third.

When it was introduced in 1997, the definitive £2 coin was the first bi-colour coin of the United Kingdom. Its reverse design, created by Bruce Rushin, celebrates the march of technology from the Iron Age to the Internet.

The central design features the decorative whorls familiar in Ancient Celtic art and surrounding this is a circle of cogs and wheels symbolising the Industrial revolution. The twentieth century computer age completes the design, the third cupro-nickel circle depicting a pattern derived from silicon chips and the outer ring of nickel-brass representing the Internet. As a whole, the design is an evocative reminder that developments in technology have been built on the accomplishments of previous generations, an acknowledgement that is also summed up in the words chosen for the edge inscription, the words of Isaac Newton: 'if I have seen further it is by STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS'.