A new two pound coin honouring literary author George Orwell was released by Britain’s Royal Mint on Monday, January 13, Reuters reports.
Marking the 75th anniversary of the author’s death, the reverse (tails) design pays tribute to one of his most famous novels, ”1984”.
The coin, designed by Henry Gray, depicts what appears to be an eye on one side, but is in fact a camera lens at the centre.
Orwell’s 1949 book features a “Big Brother” government that spies on its citizens and forces them into “doublethink” or simultaneously accepting contradictory versions of the truth.
The quote, ‘‘Big Brother is Watching You’’ encircles the camera lens, while the coin’s edge inscription reads ‘THERE WAS TRUTH AND THERE WAS UNTRUTH’, another quote from the novel.
According to the Royal Mint, the two pound coin is one the most favoured denominations among collectors.
Since its introduction to the definitive coinage of the United Kingdom in 1998, the two pound coin has seen over 50 reverse designs, including coins commemorating other literary figures including William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and JRR Tolkien.
