“Coins are pieces of art and maintainers of history and tradition and so to see my design on an official UK coin that celebrates and raises awareness of such an important discovery is a dream come true.” Iris De La Torre

The Royal Mint has today unveiled a brand new 50p celebrating ‘100 years of Insulin’ – designed by renowned jewellery artist Iris De La Torre.

The commemorative 50p celebrates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, marking the historic medical breakthrough for the first time on official UK coin. It is the fifth coin in The Royal Mint’s ‘Innovation in Science’ series and celebrates the discovery by researchers; Dr John Macleod, Sir Frederick Banting, Dr Charles Best and Dr James Collip in 1921.

First-time coin designer Iris De La Torre was given the honour of creating the ‘100 Years of Insulin’ 50p after her design was selected by The Royal Mint Advisory Committee, and ultimately approved by the Chancellor and Her Majesty the Queen. 

Iris embraced the switch from jewellery to metal with ease, creating a design which represented the chemical construction of insulin through hexagon patterns and a bold typeface. The jewellery artist hails her recent debut in coin design as “a dream come true” and has urged more designers to consider working with The Royal Mint as it looks to attract a more diverse pool of artists.

Speaking of the opportunity, Iris said: “My work has always had a strong illustrative quality and I was confident that my graphic style would successfully transfer to coin design. Coins are pieces of art and maintainers of history and tradition and so to see my design on an official UK coin that celebrates and raises awareness of such an important discovery is a dream come true.”

The Royal Mint is the original maker of UK coins, and produces a wide range of commemorative designs each year celebrating key themes, anniversaries, and remarkable individuals. Throughout its 1,100-year history of craftsmanship, these coins have been designed by artists from a variety of backgrounds, each applying their own creative interpretations.

The Royal Mint welcomes submissions from all resident artists in the UK, celebrating the best of British talent on official UK coin.

The Royal Mint Design Lead Lee Jones said: “We want to champion the best of British creativity and that means making sure we’re working with a diverse range of artists and designers, alongside our highly skilled in-house teams. It’s such a joy to find and work with talented people like Iris, and having such variety in our artists ensures we raise the bar each time.”

The Royal Mint is currently running a series of webinars to help engage new artists with coin design, and the first is available to view here: https://www.royalmint.com/collect/webinar/previous-webinars/

The 100 Years of Insulin 50p coin is available to purchase from today at The Royal Mint.

 

Coin title	50p Gold Proof Coin	50p Silver Proof Piedfort Coin	50p Silver Proof Coin	50p Brilliant Uncirculated Coin
Denomination	50p	50p	50p	50p
Issuing Authority	UK	UK	UK	UK
Alloy	916.7 Au	925 Ag	925 Ag	Cupro-nickel
Weight	15.50g	16.00g	8.00g	8.00g
Diameter	27.30mm	27.30mm	27.30mm	27.30mm
Obverse Designer	Jody Clark	Jody Clark	Jody Clark	Jody Clark
Reverse Designer	Iris De La Torre	Iris De La Torre	Iris De La Torre	Iris De La Torre
Quality	Proof	Proof	Proof	Brilliant Uncirculated
Maximum Coin Mintage	260	1,510	3,710	Unlimited
RRP	£1,065	£102.50	£57.50	£10

 

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About The Royal Mint

The Royal Mint has an unbroken history of minting British coinage dating back over 1,100 years. Based in the Tower of London for over 500 years, by 1812 The Royal Mint had moved out of the Tower to premises on London’s Tower Hill. In 1967 the building of a new Royal Mint began on its current site in South Wales, UK, to accommodate the minting of UK decimal coinage.

Today, The Royal Mint is the world’s largest export mint, supplying coins to the UK and overseas countries. The Royal Mint has also diversified into a number of other complementary businesses, building on the values that have been at the heart of the organisation throughout its history - authenticity, security, precious metals, craftsmanship and design:

Precious Metals

Throughout history The Royal Mint’s name has been synonymous with precious metals and bullion. The organisation trades physical and digital precious metal worldwide and has a global network of distributor partners.

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The Royal Mint entered the tourism business in 2016 when it opened its popular visitor centre, The Royal Mint Experience, at its home in Llantrisant, South Wales. The attraction welcomes around 100,000 visitors a year.