2007 UK New Coin Designs
Initial comments and reactions to the announcement about the new coin designs following Gordon Brown's announcement in the House on Thursday 15th June 2006
The most immediate and vociferous comments were directed at the proposed two pound coin to commemorate the tercentenary of the Act of Union Between England and Scotland.

Act of Union Between England and Scotland Tercentenary Two Pounds 1707 - 2007

• According to the (Scottish) Daily Record:

  Gordon Brown was yesterday slammed for ordering a new coin to mark the Act of Union between Scotland and England.
  The commemorative £2 coins will be minted next year to mark 300 years since the original Scottish parliament was closed.
  SNP leader Alex Salmond claimed the Chancellor was trying to woo voters down south after admitting he was backing England in the World Cup.
  Salmond said: "There is no end to Gordon Brown's capacity for self-promotion and his determination to prove his British credentials."
  He dubbed the coin the "Brownie - full of brass, not very popular, soon to be devalued".
  He told MPs: "It's going to become a collector's item as the Union passes into history,"
  But Commons leader Jack Straw replied: "You will be passing into history a long time before the Union."
  The Treasury are keeping the design of the new coin under wraps until it is approved by the Queen.

  We originally thought the "Brownie" comment was aimed at the new Centenary of the Scouting Movement Fifty Pence. It would have been wittier and more relevant as Brownies are the junior female version of scouts.

• The Scotsman:
  

  A SPECIAL £2 coin to mark the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between England and Scotland is to be minted next year, it was announced today.
  Hundreds of thousands of the commemorative coins will go into circulation along with a similar £2 piece to mark the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade alongside the existing regulation coin.
  But SNP leader Alex Salmond warned that it would have the same rarity value as the proposed stamp to celebrate a Scottish soccer World Cup victory in 1978.
  He said he would shortly be announcing a competition for the design of a new coin to mark Scotland's regaining of national independence.
  Chancellor Gordon Brown announced that the Queen had approved the new coin as she celebrated her 80th birthday, due on Saturday, at a special service at St Paul's Cathedral.
  A Royal Mint spokesman said the new £2 coins would be issued alongside the regulation version which on the reverse side from the Queen's head figures concentric circles signifying the nations' industrial and technological development.
  

• The BBC:

  Special coin to mark Act of Union
  A £2 coin will be issued next year to mark the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between England and Scotland, Chancellor Gordon Brown has said.
  There will also be a commemorative £2 coin to mark 200 years since the abolition of slavery, he told MPs.
  And a collectable crown piece worth £5 will mark the Queen and Prince Philip's diamond wedding anniversary.
  "Collector versions of all these coins will be released at a premium above face value," Mr Brown said.
  A statement issued by Mr Brown, who is Scottish and widely tipped to become prime minister next year, said the Queen had approved his recommendation that a coin be issued to mark the unification of England and Scotland into Great Britain in 1707.
  Mr Brown also said there would be a special 50p coin to commemorate the centenary of the Scouting movement.
  All the special coins will be available in collectable versions and the three lower value coins will also be available from banks and post offices later in 2007.

• The Times Online:

  Gordon Dazzles as Tories Stay Out of the Game
  Parliamentary Sketch by Ann Treneman
  Where's George? That was the cry from the Labour benches aimed at the empty place on the Tory front bench where George Osborne should have been. Gordon Brown is still not very good at smiling but yesterday, when he heard that question, his face lit up with true happiness.
  He was beaming like a human lighthouse. I knew he was keen on alternative energy sources (he can bore for Britain on biofuels) but I had not realised that he might be able to contribute personally to the national grid. Who needs a wind turbine when you can generate your own electricity by solar molars? So where WAS George? No one said. Normally it would be courtesy for someone to apologise for his absence. Treasury Questions comes but once a month and even superstars such as the Shadow Chancellor are expected to be there. But his deputy, Theresa Villiers, who is so inexperienced that it is almost a work experience situation, didn't mention it. It was all most odd. Later, I found out that it is also a bit murky. It seems that George was in Denver which, let's face it, is in the wrong country.
  The Tories' story is that they thought Gordon would be at the Queen's birthday bash and so George didn't have to be there either. Sometimes I wonder about the Tories: the Chancellor was always likely to change his mind, especially if it meant catching the Tories out.
  This whole mini-drama may sound petty and childish but, can I note, this IS Westminster. Plus, it was also extremely effective in several ways that will be very satisfying to Mr Brown. For, in the absence of George, Tory MPs, who are mostly sheep in sheep's clothing, decided they could give it a miss, too. The result? Their benches were swathes of green. "Where are the Tory MPs?" cried Labour MPs with orchestrated glee.
  This allowed Mr Brown to dominate proceedings in an almost scary way. He announced that the Queen had agreed to his idea for two new coins: one marking the end of slavery in 1807 and another for the unification of England and Scotland in 1707. Both topics are close to his heart and he may have convinced himself that, despite time travel problems, he was actually present at each event.
  The slavering from Labour MPs over the man they think will be king is beyond embarrassing. A few months ago they stopped asking any tricky questions on the economy but now they have abandoned any pretence that the economy is even peripheral to proceedings.
  Yesterday, they asked about climate change, education, and poverty. By amazing coincidence, Mr Brown is leading a global revolution in each of these areas. At one point, his boasting made me bang my head on my desk. The rest of the day was devoted to finishing in time for the football. Thus the adjournment debate, on the future of the UK Hydrographic Office, began at about 3pm. There were five people in the chamber, two of whom were near-obsessives.
  Tom Watson, the Defence Minister, said that he was carrying out some "prethinking" on the subject. He added: "I assure you my prethinking will be rational."
  But later, he said: "Let me do some post-prethinking." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when it was all over, at 3.44pm.

  What happened to objective and unbiased reporting?, we wonder, although we suspect we can provide the answer to our own question, Rupert Murdock.

• The SNP:

  Salmond takes Brown to task on "Union Coin"
  Westminster
  Commenting on Gordon Brown's announcement that a special £2 coin is to be minted to celebrate the 1707 Union the leader of the SNP, Alex Salmond MP, dubbed the suggested coin the 'Brownie' and described it as "full of brass, not very popular and soon to be devalued".
  Mr Salmond raised the matter at Business Questions today (Thursday) where he also pointed out that it would take 6,000 million £2 coins to pay Scotland back for the £12 billion in oil revenues the Chancellor will receive from Scotland.
  Commenting Mr Salmond said:
  "There is no end to Gordon Brown's capacity for self-promotion and his determination to prove his British credentials. I am surprised he doesn't want a coin celebrating his favourite football moment - Paul Gascoigne's goal against Scotland in Euro 96.
  "It will also take 6,000 million £2 coins to pay Scotland back for the £12 billion in oil revenues that are keeping the Chancellor and the UK finances afloat this year.
  "The coin will be received with the same lack of enthusiasm as the original £1 coin. That was known in Scotland as the Thatcher - brassy and not worth very much.
  "This new coin will be the Brownie - full of brass, not very popular and soon to be devalued.
  "It will become a collector's item in the future, known for its rarity value as the Union passes in to history.
  "Even Gordon Brown in his wildest musings couldn't expect an outbreak of street parties to celebrate the Union in Scotland.
  "We would be better served thinking about a coin to mark Scotland's independence - that would be a cause of real celebration for our nation."

• The Herald:

  Brown Coins More Union Angst
  Deborah Summers, UK Political Correspondent June 16 2006
  Gordon Brown has announced that a £2 coin will be issued next year to mark the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between Scotland and England.
  The Chancellor of the Exchequer recommended the move to mark the unification of the countries in 1707 and the Queen had given her approval.
  But the move prompted a mixed response from politicians and academics. The SNP accused Mr Brown of an attempt to prove his British credentials, while the Tories and Liberal Democrats welcomed the move.
  Historians questioned what would be depicted on the coin and warned it could become a joke north of the border.
  The union brought Scottish independence to an end and paved the way for the creation of Great Britain.
  Neal Ascherson, the Edinburgh-born historian and writer, said: "This is part of Gordon Brown's campaign on Britishness, which he wants everyone to celebrate. As this was the moment when the UK began, it is not surprising he came up with this.
  "There will be scepticism and jokes in Scotland about it, but what the jokes are will depend on what is written on the coin."
  Mr Ascherson said it would be interesting to see whether the term "act" or "treaty" was used on the coin.
  "In Scotland we regard it as a contract or agreement or treaty entered into by both parties, rather than an act that cannot be undone. It will also be interesting to see whether the coin depicts unicorns and lions or the St Andrew's cross."
  Tom Devine, professor of Scottish history at Edinburgh University, said: "I welcome this announcement. I was concerned that neither the Scottish executive, nor the Westminster government, would be planning any mark or commemoration for the remembrance of 1707.
  "It is not necessarily something that everyone would agree should be celebrated, but because of its intrinsic historical importance to the lives of the people of Britain it is essential that it is marked or commemorated. The issue of some kind of commemorative emblem is highly appropriate."
  Professor Devine said the historical and contemporary effect of the Act of Union should now be debated publicly and academically.
  "The fact that the initiative comes from Gordon Brown is likely to be controversial because it will be seen by some as a ploy to further confirm his British credentials in the interest of him possibly becoming prime minister," he said.
  The coin would be issued alongside three others; a collectable crown piece worth £5 to celebrate the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh's diamond wedding anniversary, a £2 coin to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade and a 50p to commemorate the centenary of the Scouting movement.
  

The Other Three New Coins
As you can see from the above, most of the political and press comments were directed at the Act of Union coin, the other three designs mainly getting a passing mention near the end of most of the articles.

Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade 1807 - 2007
This is also to be commemorated on a two pound coin.
On March 25th 1807, the Slave Trade Act became law abolishing slavery in the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Although slavery itself was not abolished, and indeed still proliferates in many areas of the world, the British initiative is to be admired.
We turned to the excellent Wikipedia for concise historical notes:

The Slave Trade Act (citation 47 Geo III Sess. 1 c. 36) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in 1807 the long title of which is "An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade".
The act abolished the slave trade in the British empire. The trade had begun in 1562, during the reign of Elizabeth I when John Hawkins led the first slaving expedition.
The people who pushed the act through were a group of Evangelical Protestants allied with Quakers and united in their opposition to slavery and the slave trade. The Quakers had long viewed slavery as immoral, a blight upon humanity. By 1807 the anti-slave-trade groups had a very sizable faction of like-minded members in the English Parliament. They controlled, at their height, some 35-40 seats.
Known as the "saints" this alliance was led by William Wilberforce, the most important of the anti-slave campaigners. These parliamentarians were extremely dedicated and often saw their personal battle against slavery as a divinely ordained crusade.
Their numbers were magnified by the precarious position of the current government under Lord Grenville (his short term as Prime Minister was known as Ministry of all The Talents). Not long after the act was passed, Grenville's government lost power to William Cavendish. Despite this change, the later British governments continued to support the policy of ending the slave trade.
After the British ended their own slave trade, they felt forced by economics to press other nations into placing themselves in the same economic straitjacket, or else the British colonies would become uncompetitive with those of other nations. The British campaign against the slave trade by other nations was an unprecedented foreign policy effort. Denmark, a small player in the international slave trade, and the United States banned the trade during the same period as Great Britain. Other small trading nations that did not have a great deal to give up, such as Sweden, quickly followed suit, as did the Dutch, who were also by then a minor player.
The British navy declared that ships transporting slaves were the same as pirates, and so ships carrying slaves were subject to destruction and any men captured were (potentially) subject to execution.

Different Versions
In addition to the gold proof versions which will be offered on this site, the £2 is is certain to be produced in the following different versions, further details of which are shown on our other web site.

• Ordinary circulation version, which should be available from banks and post offices during the year.
• Specimen version, issued in Royal Mint folder. This has a superior finish compared with the ordinary coins, so will be preferred by most collectors. the folders are also very attractive and informative, and made interesting and unusual gifts.
• Silver Proof version, with the outer part gold plated.
• Piedfort proof version, similar but made double weight, with a lower mintage.

2007 Gold Coins