2016-07-02 Sat

The Royal Mint has issued a special silver commemorative £5 coin, created by artist and sculptor John Bergdahl to observe the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. The coin is part of The Mint’s five-year programme of commemoration of the First World War. The war started on July 1st 1916 and lasted until November 1916, as the British and French forces fought with Germans. This bloody war took away lives of 420,000 British, 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans.

The design depicts infantrymen walking on muddy terrain behind a tank beside them – which was introduced for the first time in the First World War. On the first day of the battle, 20,000 British troops were killed out of which many were volunteers from ‘Pals’ battalions made of friends recruited from the same towns. Other inscriptions include a quote by Major-General Sir Beauvoir de Lisle – ‘DEAD MEN CAN ADVANCE NO FURTHER’.

As per the artist, the coin’s design was inspired by technology that changed the nature of World War I. Tanks offered protection as well as fire power. The designs are very detailed and accurate.

The Somme Coin was produced in collaboration with The Imperial War Museum. This one ounce coin will cost £80 and the mintage limit is 1,916 to mark the year of the battle.