Description

For 250 years, the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) has been at the forefront of championing the arts in Britain through education and exhibition. 2018 sees the RA250 celebrations – a significant moment where an iconic British institution reaches 250 years of supporting and promoting the arts. To mark this occasion, the RA and The Royal Mint have collaborated on a £5 silver Proof coin.

Royal academicians who have links to the Royal Mint include two Royal Mint chief engravers: Richard Yeo, (c. 1720–1779) a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts who produced designs for the coinage of George III and became chief engraver of the Royal Mint in 1775; whilst William Wyon RA, (1795–1851) who created the effigies of King George IV, King William IV, and Queen Victoria, became chief engraver in 1828.

Other academicians who have worked with the Royal Mint include Arnold Machin, who created the first effigy of the Queen to be seen on British Decimal coins from 1968 until 1984, as well as the 1972 Silver Wedding Anniversary Crown and the 1977 Silver Jubilee Crown. Further Royal Academy alumni were David Mach and Christopher Le Brun, the current president of the Royal Academy, who produced designs for 21st century Britannia coins and the ever popular Kew Gardens 50-pence coin. Tom Phillips, James Butler, and Sir Anthony Caro are other significant royal academicians who have designed coins and medals for the Royal Mint with Mr. Phillips and Sir Anthony unveiling their Royal Mint Olympic coin designs at the Royal Academy in 2012.