Coins celebrating 25th anniversary of first Harry Potter book unveiled by Royal Mint

A 50p coin featuring Harry Potter has been unveiled to celebrate 25 years since the first novel in the wizarding series was first published in the UK.

The coin will depict the young wizard and will be available to buy from the Royal Mint’s website later this month.

It is the first of four coins – modelled by Ffion Gwillim at the Royal Mint – featuring the work of Jim Kay, the artist who created a fully illustrated edition of the debut Harry Potter novel.

The other coins will feature the Hogwarts Express, Albus Dumbledore and Hogwarts.

J.K. Rowling’s novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was first published in 1997 by Bloomsbury Publishing.

Mr Gwillim described the illustrations as “iconic and recognisable”.

The Harry Potter coin is the first of four to be released

Combining traditional minting techniques with technology, The Royal Mint’s craftspeople have reproduced Jim Kay’s illustrations in colour for the first time on official UK coins.

Many of the coins in the range also feature an enchanting ‘latent feature’ which rotates in the light to reveal a lightning bolt and the number ‘25’ to mark the anniversary year.

An advanced picosecond laser was used by The Royal Mint to imprint the intricate design onto coin making tools to ensure accuracy, and create an additional, special effect to further enhance the coin’s design.

Mr Kay, illustrator and designer of the Harry Potter coin collection added: “It hasn’t really sunk in yet.

“It is the same for most aspects of publishing – because you are on your own all of the time in a studio, none of it quite seems real until you see the book on a shelf in a shop. Then you think ‘oh yeah! I did that!’

“This is completely new to me though, a coin.”

Nicola Howell, chief commercial officer at The Royal Mint said, “As the official maker of UK coins, we are delighted to make a spellbinding coin collection to celebrate the 25^thanniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

“The first coin in the collection, celebrating Harry Potter, will be available for collectors and fans to buy at the end of this month.”

The first design was unveiled live to collectors and Potter enthusiasts on Thursday evening.

The exact launch date of the other coins in the collection will be announced across the Royal Mint’s social channels in coming weeks.