British coin in honor of Queen, the band
Guitarist Brian May of band Queen poses with a 5-pound coin on January 17, 2020.
Britain’s Royal Mint has issued its first commemorative coin featuring a British rock group, in a tribute to the late Freddie Mercury and the three other band members of Queen.
“This is a ‘who would’ve thought it’ moment. Here we have a coin of the realm, a 5-pound coin in fact, made by The Royal Mint, in the customary fashion,” said Queen lead guitarist Brian May in a video clip, holding a one ounce silver proof coin.
“On one side (of the coin) we have The Queen (Elizabeth). On the other side we have Queen. This never happened before,” he said.
All British coins and banknotes bear the head of the monarch.
The coin, released on Sunday, features the band’s logo and instruments played by the Queen members: the Bechstein grand piano played by Freddie Mercury for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” May’s “Red Special” guitar, Roger Taylor’s Ludwig bass drum with an early-day Queen crest and John Deacon’s Fender Precision Bass.
The commemorative coin is available in gold and silver proof, with prices varying from 13 pounds (US$16.9) for a brilliant uncirculated coin cover to 2,100 pounds for the one ounce gold proof coin.
