2017-06-07 Wed

New collectable coins celebrating the 10 ‘Queen’s Beasts’ of British heraldry will be released by the Royal Mint. This time it is going to be the Unicorn of Scotland. Mythical creatures like griffins, lions, dragons and falcons have been a part of British royal heraldry since ages now. They are depicted on various kinds of symbols all over the country.

The designs have been inspired by the Queen’s Beasts sculptures by James Woodford RA over the Palm House at Kew Gardens. The sculptures were made for the coronation ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. They are showcased at the Canadian Museum of History in Quebec.

Designer Jody Clark observed that the unicorn always has a cloven hoof. To add movement in the design, she showed the beast leaping over the shield a little. To make it more dramatic there is some movement in the chain as well. The original design shows the unicorn simply supporting the shield.

The coins are available in various finishes like ‘mint condition’ Brilliant Uncirculated collectables, Silver proof and Gold Proof editions. The Unicorn of Scotland is the second coin in the series, the first one being the Lion of England coin which was released in November 2016.