Remembrance Day began in 1919 and ever since has served as a time to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice by fighting for their country. Ceremonies have taken place annually at memorials across the nation, as a way to remember these fallen heroes.
The Royal Mint has a long-standing tradition of honouring servicemen and women, producing many of the medals that are awarded for service in the armed forces. Numerous Royal Mint employees lost their lives during the World Wars and some staff members in active service were even awarded medals made by their own colleagues. Each year The Royal Mint pays its own tribute to the brave men and women of conflicts past and present, by releasing a coin for Remembrance Day which has been created by one of our own designers. The tribute had been struck as an Alderney coin but in 2017, for the first time, the Remembrance Day coin was struck as an official United Kingdom coin. The reverse features a poignant design by Stephen Taylor, a member of The Royal Mint’s Graphic Design team. This is Stephen’s second coin design; he created a portrait-themed design, which appeared on the range struck to mark Her Majesty The Queen becoming Britain’s longest reigning monarch. Stephen’s Remembrance design features realistic poppies with striking red poppies, brought to life by colour printing. The poppy has been symbolic of the blood shed by armed forces since First World War poet John McCrae described the flowers he saw blooming on the graves of his fallen comrades in his poem ‘In Flanders Fields’.
