Coin News

It’s hard to imagine life without television but back in the early 1920s, it was a complete unknown.

That was until John Logie Baird successfully produced televised objects in outline in 1924, transmitted recognisable human faces in 1925, and demonstrated the televising of moving objects in 1926.

To celebrate the life and works of the ‘Father of Television’, a brand new 50p in the UK’s Innovation in Science series has been released, designed by Osborne Ross. a London based design agency.

The design features key milestones from Baird’s life, presented between the lines of transmission radiating from the centre of the coin.

To secure this brand new coin for your collection, in Brilliant Uncirculated quality for JUST £4.50 (+p&p), simply click here >>

The Father of Television

At the age of 34, John Logie Baird set about experimenting in television – the start of a passion which was to drive him for the rest of his life.

By early 1925, Baird was successful in demonstrating one of his experiments to the public, in Selfridges’ display window on Oxford Street, London. Bemused shoppers were treated to ‘a recognisable, if rather blurred’, image of simple forms such as letters printed in white on a black card.

Baird’s breakthrough came in 1925 when he produced a recognisable image, complete with shades of grey and in 1926 he gave the world’s first public demonstration of television.

To mark this incredible breakthrough in technology, John Logie Baird now joins the likes of Rosalind Franklin and Stephen Hawking in The Royal Mint’s Innovation in Science series as he’s commemorated on a brand new UK 50p.

Innovators in Science Series

In 2019, The Royal Mint confirmed a new series of coins commemorating some of the most influential Innovators in Science.

2019 Stephen Hawking 50p

The series kick-started with a 50p commemorating Stephen Hawking, less than a year after his death.

Hawking’s ‘A Brief History of Time’ enlightened millions to the workings of the universe and revolutionised the way we understand time and space. As an ambassador for science, his significant contributions to humanity have left a lasting presence on all of us.

The striking design by Edwina Ellis features a stylised black hole to reflect his breakthrough work, as well as an inscription of his name and most notable ‘Bekenstein-Hawking formula’ describing the thermodynamic entropy of a black hole.

2020 Rosalind Franklin 50p

In the year that would have marked her 100th birthday, The Royal Mint released a 50p celebrating the life and crucial work of Rosalind Franklin, the first female scientist to be commemorated on a UK coin.

David Knapton’s striking design of this coin, features a depiction of Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray, ‘Photograph 51’, which revealed the helical structure of DNA, in her laboratory at King’s College, London.

One of Britain’s greatest scientists, Franklin made a crucial finding to the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA.

Outside of the Innovators in Science series, we’ve seen an impressive selection of engineers and innovations celebrated on our UK coins…

2001 Wireless Transmission £2

In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian physicist, succeeded in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, disproving theories that the curvature of the earth would limit the transmission to 200 miles or less.

The message – simply containing the Morse code signal for the letter ‘s’ – travelled more than 2,000 miles from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland in Canada and won him worldwide fame and a Nobel Prize in physics in 1909.

This £2 coin was issued in 2001 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of this outstanding breakthrough.

4,558,000 of these coins entered circulation.

2004 Steam Locomotive £2

The first steam engine locomotive was built by mining engineer Richard Trevithick and travelled from Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales to Abercynon on its first journey in 1804, carrying 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 people on the 9 mile trip.

This £2 coin was issued in 2004 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of this impressive development in transportation.

The reverse design pays tribute to this first engine known as the ‘Pennydarren‘ which started the growth of railway transport in the 19th Century.

5,004,500 of these coins entered circulation. Have you found one?

2006 Brunel £2

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an English mechanical and civil engineer whose designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering.

He is perhaps best remembered for the network of tunnels, bridges and viaducts constructed for the Great Western Railway as well as the Clifton Suspension Bridge which crossed the River Avon.

This £2 coin commemorates the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1806 and features a portrait of Brunel against a section of the Royal Albert bridge, wearing a top hat with a trademark cigar in his mouth.

7,928,250 of these coins entered circulation. Have you found this coin in your change?

Brunel is perhaps best remembered for the network of tunnels, bridges and viaducts constructed for the Great Western Railway as well as the Clifton Suspension Bridge which crossed the River Avon.

This £2 commemorates the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1806 and features a section of the roof of Paddington Station – one of his most famous works.

7,452,250 of these coins entered circulation in 2006, making it the rarer of the two Brunel £2 coins.

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We’re so excited to see the 2021 UK John Logie Baird 50p join the marvelous Innovation in Science series and we’re sure this brand new coin will prove incredibly popular with collectors!

Will you be securing these coins for your collection? Let us know in the comments!

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Secure the 2021 UK John Logie Baird 50p in Brilliant Uncirculated quality!

Own the brand new 2021 UK John Logie Baird 50p in CERTIFIED Brilliant Uncirculated quality for JUST £4.50 (+p&p).

Your superior collector quality coin has been protectively encapsulated in Official Change Checker packaging to preserve for generations to come.