tangerine designs 50p, Glasgow Commonwealth Games

In celebration of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which opens tonight in Glasgow, tangerine are pleased to announce its contribution to the games. tangerine’s Dan Flashman led a team that beat over fifty competitors to secure the Royal Mint commission to design the coin.

The winning design was created by a young designer, Alex Loudon.   His coin seeks to represent the dedication and athleticism embodied by Commonwealth athletes whilst also capturing the essence of Scottish national pride, as the games proud hosts. Sir Chris Hoy, one of Scotland’s most successful athletes, inspires the designs’ cycling motif.

Alex says of his design:  “we thought we had strong elements that summed up the athletic spirit of the Games. We used the Scottish Saltire in a very subtle way, but the final design was one people could recognise and understand.”

The approval of the coins’ design ultimately lay with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Queen, highlighting the importance that the design captured the spirit of the Commonwealth. tangerine’s design impressed, Dr Kevin Clancy, Committee Secretary and Director of the Royal Mint Museum, said of the tangerine winning design, “what the Committee loved was the tone of what tangerine did – the spirit, the imagination and the intelligence.”

The coin has already gone to mint and entered circulation ahead of the games. Whilst enjoying the games over the next fortnight, make sure to keep an eye out when digging into your pockets for change, you may well find yourself in possession of a small piece of tangerine design!