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The Royal Mint’s 2023 The Lion and The Eagle Coins
The Most Prolific Designer in U.S. Mint History Joins Forces with The Royal Mint
In a historic first, The Royal Mint has teamed up with a distinguished American coin designer to skillfully craft a masterpiece that pays homage to the enduring alliance between Great Britain and the United States.
Be ready on 11/27 for the official release. Sign up below to be notified when this highly anticipated new release hits our shelves. You don’t want to miss your opportunity to secure this historic coin.
The Best and the Best: A Partnership that Makes Perfect Sense
John Mercanti is acclaimed as one of the most prolific coin designers in U.S. Mint history. Over his illustrious career spanning 37 years, he designed over 100 coins and medals. During his tenure, he served as the U.S. Mint’s 12th Chief Engraver from 2006 to 2010. Even in retirement, Mercanti continues to create highly sought-after designs for mints around the world.
Starting in 2014, Mercanti designed the popular Wedge-Tailed Eagle coin series, which is currently on its 8th design, for the Australia Perth Mint. In 2019, he collaborated with retired Royal Canadian Mint Senior Engraver Susan Taylor to design the Peace and Liberty Medal for the Royal Canadian Mint. The decision by The Royal Mint to commission Mercanti for this historic coin design underscores his immense respect and recognition within the global coin design community.
The Royal Mint-The Original Maker
With over 1,100 years of history, The Royal Mint is the original British maker of well-crafted, thoughtfully designed products, services and experiences. Every stage of the coin’s minting process is executed with meticulous care and precision, ensuring an exceptional level of detail that is bound to leave you in awe.
The result is a symbol of perfection, meticulously struck in 99.99% pure gold and 99.9% fine silver, setting a standard of quality destined to be cherished for generations.
He’s Done It Again!
The Most Prolific Designer in U.S. Mint History Joins Forces with the Royal Mint! Approved by the King of England, Legal Tender, Limited Mintages!
When The Royal Mint goes about creating a legal tender coin program, it is not taken lightly. Every step of the process, from concept drawing to handcrafting the sculpture and creating the dies, is meticulously overseen by the artist and craftsmen at the mint, and nothing moves ahead without the Royal Proclamation from the Monarchy, approved by King Charles III himself. The Lion and The Eagle coin release is no exception!
The concept was to create a coin program celebrating the enduring friendship between Great Britain and the United States of America.
John Mercanti, The Most Prolific Designer in U.S. Mint History, Joins Forces with The Royal Mint®
To bring this vision to life, The Royal Mint reached out to the most prolific coin designer in the history of the United States Mint, John Mercanti. An American artist, sculptor, and former Chief Engraver at the USA Mint (2006-2010), John Mercanti has worked to create the reverse design. The decision by The Royal Mint to commission Mercanti for this historic coin design underscores his immense respect and recognition within the global coin design community.
John started his concepts, drawing on the two nations’ symbols. The choice of the Bald Eagle as the symbol of America draws inspiration from ancient civilizations like Rome, where the eagle was associated with power, authority, and freedom. The Founding Fathers of the U.S. admired these characteristics and adopted the Bald Eagle as the national emblem in 1782. The noble Lion has been a prominent emblem in British heraldry since the 12th century, representing strength, nobility, and courage. It is one of the earliest animals to appear in royal emblems, and its first recorded use was the gift of a blue shield decorated with small golden lions, given to Geoffrey Plantagenet by Henry I in 1127. These two symbols stand united on the reverse, their unwavering gazes exuding a powerful aura of unity, strength, and shared values.
The design was inspiring with an elegant feel befitting a king; and on July 19th, 2023, His Majesty King Charles III signed the Royal Proclamation approving The Lion and Eagle coin design.
The Best and the Best: A Partnership that Makes Perfect Sense
John Mercanti is acclaimed as one of the most prolific coin designers in U.S. Mint history. Over his illustrious career spanning 37 years, including his tenure as the Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint from 2006 to 2010, he designed over 100 coins and medals. Even in retirement, Mercanti continues to create highly sought-after designs for mints around the world. Starting in 2014, Mercanti designed the popular Wedge-Tailed Eagle coin series for Australia’s Perth Mint, now in its tenth year. And in 2019, he collaborated with retired Royal Canadian Mint Senior Engraver Susan Taylor to design the Peace and Liberty Medal.
The Royal Mint was founded in A.D. 886 in London. That’s over eleven centuries of minting British coins. Today the Mint stands at the pinnacle of technological advancement in the world of coin production. Every stage of the production of every coin, is executed with meticulous care and precision, ensuring an exceptional level of awe-inspiring detail.
Collectors expect magnificent coin designs from John Mercanti, and unsurpassed technical excellence from Great Britain’s Royal Mint—and that’s true again here, with this partnership.
A Historic Collaboration on a Coin Design that Unites Nations
This first-ever historic collaboration commemorates the national symbols of both the United States and Great Britain, the Eagle and the Lion, standing as a powerful representation of unity between two formidable nations.
The choice of the American Bald Eagle as the symbol of America draws inspiration from ancient civilizations like Rome, where the eagle was associated with power, authority, and freedom. The Founding Fathers of the U.S. admired these characteristics and adopted the Bald Eagle as the national emblem in 1782. The noble Lion has been a prominent emblem in British heraldry since the 12th century, representing strength, nobility, and courage. It is one of the earliest animals to appear in royal emblems, and its first recorded use was the gift of a blue shield decorated with small golden lions, given to Geoffrey Plantagenet by Henry I in 1127. These two symbols stand united on the reverse, their unwavering gazes exuding a powerful aura of unity, strength and shared values. The obverse features the portrait of his majesty King Charles III by Martin Jennings, and the British legal-tender value in pounds.
Struck in Pure Gold and Silver
These 2023 Lion and Eagle Proofs are available in a variety of denominations. Choose yours struck in one ounce of high-purity 99.99% gold (£100) or one ounce of 99.9% fine silver (£1 legal tender).
Proofs Are Struck to A Higher Standard of Quality
The exquisite proof finish offers a much higher standard of beauty, quality, and craftsmanship than coins with non-proof finishes. Proof planchets (blanks) are specially treated, hand-polished, and cleaned to ensure high-quality strikes, then fed into presses fitted with specially polished dies and struck multiple times, unlike non-proofs which are struck only once. The extra strikes give proofs a glamorous shine and make intricate, razor-sharp details of the design pop against polished, mirror-like fields. While non-proofs are struck on high-speed presses by the thousands, these proofs are struck individually by highly skilled artisans creating numismatic masterpieces.
Certified Flawless PF70 and PF69 UC and First Releases by NGC
Proofs and coins are graded on a 70-point scale, with a grade of 70 representing absolute perfection, even under magnification. There is no higher grade. These 2023 The Lion and The Eagle Proofs have been certified as perfect Proof-70 Ultra Cameo (PF70 UC) and near-perfect Proof-69 (PF69 UC) by Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC), one of the top coin-grading services in the world. The Ultra Cameo (UC) designation signifies these coins possess an intense frosted finish on both sides of the coin, with highly polished fields accenting the raised elements.
Each Proof also carries a First Releases (FR) designation—which means these select coins were struck and submitted to grading within 30 days of their official release from The Royal Mint!
Extremely Low Worldwide Mintages
These 2023 The Lion & The Eagle Proofs have highly limited worldwide mintages—just 385 of the one-ounce gold and just 4,510 of the one-ounce silver coins were authorized. All of the coins here are in perfect PF70 UC or near perfect PF69 UC condition, designated as First Releases, with British flag themed certification labels.
Just take a look to see why having these impressive The Lion & The Eagle Proofs as part of your collection will make you smile!
2023 Great Britain One-Ounce Gold The Lion & The Eagle Proof PF70 UC & PF69 UC FR
- One Ounce of 99.99% Pure Gold
- FIRST EVER Collaboration Between The Royal Mint and a U.S. Mint Chief Engraver
- John Mercanti Reverse Design
- Proof Finish
- £100 Great Britain Legal Tender
- Perfect Proof-70 Ultra Cameo (PF70 UC) and Proof-69 (PF69 UC) Grade by NGC
- NGC-Certified First Releases (FR)
- Arrives with Original Government Packaging
- Only 385 Authorized
2023 Great Britain One-Ounce Silver The Lion & The Eagle Proof PF70 & PF69 UC FR
- One Ounce of 99.9% Fine Silver
- FIRST EVER Collaboration Between The Royal Mint and a U.S. Mint Chief Engraver
- John Mercanti Reverse Design
- Proof Finish
- £2 Great Britain Legal Tender
- Perfect Proof-70 Ultra Cameo (PF70 UC) and Proof-69 Ultra Cameo (PF69 UC) Grade by NGC
- NGC-Certified First Releases (FR)
- Arrives with Original Government Packaging
- Only 4,510 Authorized
First Day of Issue Mercanti-Signed Options Available Through Our Scarce & Unique Coin Division
Plus, don’t miss out on additional The Lion and The Eagle Silver and Gold coins, only available by calling our Scarce & Unique Coin Division at 888-870-6339. Choose between options struck in one kilo of 99.9% gold (£1,000 Great Britain legal tender), five ounces of high-purity 99.99% gold (£500 legal tender), five ounces of 99.9% fine silver (£10 legal tender), two ounces of 99.9% fine silver (£5 legal tender), and more!
Certified Flawless PF70 UC and First Day of Issue with Exclusive John Mercanti Hand-Signed Signature Labels
The 2023 The Lion and the Eagle Proofs available through our Scarce & Unique Coin Division have been certified as perfect Proof-70 Ultra Cameo (PF70 UC) by Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC).
They also each carry a First Day of Issue (FDI) designation—which means that select coins were purchased on the first day that the mint releases that coin.
If that’s not enough, each of these perfect, flawless First Day of Issue Proofs comes sonically sealed with an exclusive label with a hand-signed signature from the reverse designer, John Mercanti.
Remember, this wider assortment of Mercanti-signed First Day of Issue The Lion and the Eagle Proofs is ONLY available through our Scarce & Unique Division. Call 888-870-6339 to learn more!
Don't let this opportunity to secure these Mercanti-designed, The Royal Mint-minted 2023 The Lion and The Eagle Proofs struck in Gold and Silver with a standard of quality that will be cherished for generations to pass you by. Secure yours right now, or call 888-870-6339 for more information.