Change Checker Coin Photo of the Year 2017
We’ve launched our search for the Change Checker Coin Photo of the Year 2017. If you have a passion for coins and enjoy photography, this is the competition for you.
Anybody can enter and we don’t mind how the photo is taken, SLR, Phone and Digital cameras are all absolutely fine.
You do not need to be a professional, just that you enjoy taking photos. If this is the first photography competition you have entered, good for you!
How does it work?
There are 4 categories:
- Week 1: Nature and Landscapes
- Week 2: Urban
- Week 3: Sport
- Week 4: Architecture
The categories are flexible and open to interpretation as we want you to be as creative as possible.
Each week we’ll ask you to post your photos on to our Instagram page with #coinphotoawards2017. At the end of each week, we’ll select our favourite 4 photos; these will be uploaded to the Change Checker Blog where the public can then vote for their favourite the following week.
The photo with the most votes each week wins that category and will be put through to the Grand Final at our Change Checker Awards 2017 in December.
When is the competition?
The dates of the competition are:
The winner of each category will be announced weekly on the Monday after voting closes.
What do I win?
Each weekly winner will be awarded The Complete Change Checker Album.
The Coin Photo of the Year 2017, the overall winner (announced in December), will win their photograph professionally printed and framed.
Are there any rules?
Here are the most important two:
- Your photo MUST be uploaded to our Instagram page with #coinphotoawards2017, any entries uploaded to our other social media channels will not be considered.
- Your photo must be 100% your own work.
Good luck and we look forward to seeing all your fantastic photographs!
Terms and Conditions
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Copyright will be assigned to Change Checker (Westminster Collection) for any photographs submitted
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Children under the age of 18 must gain permission from parents/guardian before entering the competition
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The overall winner must agree to participate in publicity surrounding the competition
How to identify the UK’s most scarce £2 coin
The 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland £2 Coin is officially the most scarce £2 coin in the UK, ranking as 100 on our Scarcity Index.
But you’d be forgiven for thinking that this coin is easy to identify.
In fact, only the most eagle-eyed collectors will be able to spot the difference between the four £2 coins that make up the 2002 Commonwealth Games £2 series.
The four coins feature the same base design, making them hard to tell apart
There’s a number of reasons they’re hard to tell apart. Firstly, there isn’t just one Commonwealth Games £2 coin but in fact four different designs – only identified by a hardly distinguishable cameo design representing each of the UK’s constituent nations, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.
Further confusion arises when the flags are shrunk to less than 1mm in size, struck during the minting process and subjected to the usual wear and tear of a circulation coin. By this stage they all start to look very similar.
Wear and tear can make it harder to distinguish between the 4 Commonwealth £2 coins
Tougher still, the only difference between England’s ‘St George Cross’ flag and Northern Ireland’s ‘Ulster Banner’ flag is the ‘Red Hand of Ulster’, the star and the crown which feature at the centre.
The ”Red Hand of Ulster’, the star and the crown are the only difference between the two flags
On uncirculated coins it is usually possible to see the difference between the flags and determine which coin you have found.
However, to be able to identify a circulation 2002 Commonwealth Games England £2 coin with certainty, you will likely need a magnifying instrument, such as a Phonescope. The Phonescope works by clipping onto a mobile or tablet device, magnifying the camera and allowing you to take close-up photos and videos.
The Phonescope is the perfect tool for viewing the details of coins up close.
Suitable for all popular smartphones and tablets.
Everything you need to know about the Jane Austen Polymer £10 banknote…
The Bank of England officially revealed the new £10 polymer banknote in a ceremony at Winchester Cathedral – the burial place of Jane Austen, on the 200th anniversary of her death.
Winchester Cathedral- where Jane Austen is buried.
What does it look like?
The new £10 note features a portrait image of Jane Austen (commissioned by her nephew James Edward Austen Leigh in 1870), alongside the famous quotation from her novel Pride and Prejudice: ‘I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!”
The new Polymer £10 note features Jane Austen (Image: Bank of England)
Jane Austen’s writing table – the central design in the background is inspired by the 12 sided writing table, and writing quills, used by Jane Austen at Chawton Cottage. An illustration of Miss Elizabeth Bennet undertaking “The examination of all the letters which Jane had written to her” from a drawing by Isobel Bishop (1902-1988) is also featured.
The new £10 note is 15% smaller than the current £10 note – Source: Bank of England
There is also an image of Godmersham Park, the home of Edward Austen Knight (Jane Austen’s brother). It is believed that she visited the house often and it was the inspiration for a number of Jane Austen’s novels.
When can I find one in my change?
The new note entered circulation on 14th September this year and around 55% of £10 banknotes in circulation are made from polymer.
Will I still be able to spend my current £10 notes?
Yes you will, but only up until 1 March 2018. As with the old paper £5 notes, the £10 note will eventually cease to be legal tender – but you will still be able to exchange them at the Bank of England.
What will happen to the paper £10 notes once they’re no longer legal tender?
There are approximately 359,000,000 paper ten pound notes in circulation, but the Bank of England does have a plan for them.
Once the Bank of England start to withdraw the paper £10 notes from circulation, they will be recycled.
In the early 2000s, the Bank of England introduced a new way to get rid of its old notes – by recycling them with a composting treatment similar to that used with food waste.
This recycling method was put into place for all paper-note waste in 2011, using them as a soil improver for agriculture.
What should I look out for on the new polymer £10 banknotes?
When the new polymer £5 note was released in September 2016, serial numbers became the talk of a nation. The first prefixes I considered were JA01, JA75 (Jane Austen’s birth year) and JA17 (the year of Jane Austen’s death). However, whilst these will likely become popular with collectors in the future, it could be many years before notes with these serial numbers enter circulation due to the huge amount of possible combinations that would come before ‘JA’. Click here to find out what else you should be looking for on these banknotes >>
So the new era of Plastic Banknotes is officially upon us! What do you make of the new Polymer banknotes?
Mark the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death
To celebrate such an inspirational female figure, the Royal Mint and the Bank of England have chosen to honour her on a brand new £2 coin and £10 banknote.
Click here to own the 2017 Jane Austen £2 Coin and £10 Banknote Pack today >>