A simple, elegant design without words

in 1995, the UK issued a commemorative £2 coin to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. The whole reverse design is taken up with a dove, flying left and holding an olive branch. The coin was designed by John Mills, who created some memorable designs for the Royal Mint in the 1990s (D-Day anniversary and EU 50 Pence, and Peace dove, UEFA 1996 and DNA double Helix £2 coins). His portfolio as a coin designer and sculptor is much larger, and you can see more designs on Joe Blogs site as well.

Personally, I love a design which can convey its message without needing text. There is a term for that, Anepigraphic.

The coin does have text about the design, around the edge. The £2 coin is quite thick, 3.4mm and reeded. The text comes through the reeding:

The full text is “1945 IN PEACE GOODWILL 1995”.

The obverse is the standard Raphael David Maklouf portrait of Queen Elizabeth (The third UK coin portrait) which was in use from 1985-1997:

Interestingly, although the Numista page for this coin lists it as a “Circulating commemorative”, there is a comment reading: “Despite being produced in their millions and being available at face value from most post offices and banks, the ordinary business strike was a Royal Mint commemorative issue and not intended for general circulation.”.