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Home Science Biology

British coins — now featuring dinosaurs

Dinosaurs on coins? Shut up and take my money!

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
February 17, 2020
in Biology, Geology, News, Offbeat

Britain has a tradition of featuring science on its money. Until recently, the £10 note (the traditional ‘tenner’) featured the Father of Evolution, Charles Darwin. Now, the Royal Mint has announced a new science-based figure to feature on British currency — or rather, three figures.

Image credits: Royal Mint.

The Royal Mint is releasing three new dinosaur-themed coins — it’s the first time this has ever happened in the UK.

The coins will honor the first three dinosaurs ever named — Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus — all of which had been found in Britain.

Meet the dinocoins

Megalosaurus, depicted here, was named by William Buckland in 1824, after partial lower jaw, vertebrae and limb bones discovered near Oxford. It measured up to nine metres in length and was a typical large meat-eater of the Middle Jurassic period. Image credits: Royal Mint.

The coins were designed by palaeoartist Robert Nicholls, representing three iconic species — first described even before dinosaurs were classified as an individual group.

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The dinosaurs will be featured on commemorative 50 pence coins (0.5£, or approximately $0.66) which can be purchased together for 0.5£.

In addition to the dinosaurs themselves, the coins will also feature distinctive features — the initial fossils after which these dinosaurs were characterized and identified.

Hylaeosaurus, depicted above, was a herbivore. Despite its imposing stature, it survived by munching plants in the woodland (its name actually means ‘woodland lizard’). Image credits: Royal Mint.

The coins were designed in partnership with the Natural History Museum in London. Professor Paul Barret, a dinosaur researcher at the Museum who has been advising on the designs’ scientific accuracy, comments:

 ‘It is exciting to do a project like this. Helping to approve the designs, look at the overall aesthetic and witnessing the production process, from the original thoughts about what might be included to seeing the finished coins, has been very satisfying.’

‘They form the original triumvirate of dinosaurs.’

The iguanodon, named in 1825, was also a herbivore. It featured distinctive thumb spikes, which may have been used to defend itself against predators. Image credits; Royal Mint.

It’s a laudable initiative, although the dinosaurs will only be featured on the commemorative coins. It’s a shame they will not be widely circulated. In addition to the base coin versions, there will also be four other versions: gold, silver, and two colored versions.

Barret also adds that the representations are very scientifically accurate, up to the point where Megalosaurus has a ‘hint of feathers on it’.

Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

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