The story of the pound

Designed by the People

In a rare move, the public was offered the opportunity to design the reverse of the 12-sided £1 coin in a competition launched by The Royal Mint Advisory Committee (RMAC).

More than 6,000 entries were received with several popular themes capturing the public’s imagination including heraldic designs and traditional floral emblems. State buildings like Buckingham Palace were also very popular, as were contemporary interpretations of British culture such as The Beatles and even cups of tea.

From the thousands of submissions the panel chose the entry by Walsall schoolboy David Pearce. He was just 15 years old when he won the public competition with his design combining the traditional floral emblems of the nations of the United Kingdom in a fresh and modern way. It shows the English rose, the Welsh leek, the Scottish thistle and the Northern Irish shamrock emerging from one stem within a royal coronet.