Four Alternative Shapes for the New Pound Coin

Round pounds are out, dodecagons are in but what other shapes would make a good alternative to the new 2017 coin?
Four Alternative Shapes for the New Pound Coin picture

Along the way to designing the new twelve-sided pound coin, did anybody think to ask the people what they wanted to see? No, the Mint ran roughshod over our monetary design dreams and dropped ‘the most secure circulating coin in the world’ into our collective laps. Here is what they could have done.

The Street Food Option – Burger
We ask you honestly, is London’s burger obsession getting out of hand? It seems every time you click onto your favourite website - All In London - there is news of a new burger joint opening up at the end of your street. What’s next? A new pound coin in the shape of a burger? It could work.

The Political Option – House
Houses, aye, where have they all gone? It’s not just the British obsession with owning them that’s the problem these days; it is the very real issue of a shortage of roofs to go over the heads of people in London. Something has to be done. The right people need to be poked, prodded and cajoled into building them. Now, if we had a pound coin in the shape of a house every one of us would be looking at them every time we dipped into our wallets – and that includes the policy-making politicians that have led us down this dead end cul-de-sac with no available properties at the end of it. Revolution? A pound shaped like a house should do it.

The Meteorology Option – Rain Cloud
Say what you like about us Londoners and our weird obsession with precipitation but don’t ever tell us we don’t have a sense of humour. Tell us anything, just not that. Sure, we complain about the weather, we moan about the weather, we bitch about the weather; but give us a pound coin in the shape of an actual rain cloud and we’d be laughing all the way to the bank – just so we could withdraw all our money in rain cloud shaped pound coins. That is how funny we’d find a rain cloud shaped pound coin. That is the famous London sense of humour.

The Way Out of Date Meme Option – Fenton the Dog
Meme’s by their very nature are temporary things; things that spread and grow and mutate until they implode and leave all the latecomers looking foolish for referencing Grumpy Cat doing the Harlem Shake with Chuck Norris – in 2014!! But what if those latecomers could have the last laugh? What if we could bring those fleeting viral moments back for good? Back forever. What if we had a pound coin shaped like Fenton the Dog? Remember him? You would if he was a pound in your pocket.

For London's Best Shops at which to spend your round pounds, click here.

Published Mar 28, 2014