I disagree. After the novelty wears off, people will every once in a while look at the change in their pocket and notice that they have a full set…they’ll then put them on the bar and idly rearrange them. (Why did I assume this was in a pub? 
) And, of course, it depends on whether they’re all new ones - there doesn’t seem to be any suggestion of a mass withdrawl of current coins, as happens with banknotes. There’ll still be the English/Welsh/Scottish pounds, the special-event 50ps, and the random Jersey and Gibraltar 20ps that have found their way into the system.
I think they’re marvelous.
Well personally, I think they’re absolutely brilliant.
Your Coinage May Vary.
ETA: the only coins better are the ones from the Cook Islands with the little guy with the huge schlong on them.
The fact that they’re different sizes is irrelevant – you can still make them so that you get a consistent design when they touch; they didn’t do it, though.
Have you actually tried this? I’m simply doubting that it’s possible to arrange all the coins without gaps. And no, I don’t have them all conveniently available.
Are you kidding? Those are down-right fugly! Give me the new design any day.
Not only that, but heraldically questionable as well, since the lions appear to have been deprived of their male member. I understand that two Swiss cantons once got into a minor war over such a subject.
Heh. Beats the Pig War…
I think they are very cool. I like them a lot, both the individual assymetry, and the concept of being able to assemble them.
Nope – I’m over here in the States, and haven’t even seen the coins in question. But i don’t understand your objection – I can take a handfull of random pocket change, all different sizes, and put them together into a “mosaic” with no gaps. It might not be symmetrical, but they’d all be touching.
But that’s what I think is GOOD about them - the balance of tradition (heraldry) with modern design (assymetry/semi-abstraction). Graphic design is one of the industries where Britain is at the global forefront, and I’m glad this is recognised in something so staple as our coinage.
Can you take one of each denomination, and arrange them into a touching formation, which is of a suitable shape for a shield to be depicted on?
I don’t see why not, although different people might have different definitions of what constutes aesthetic “suitability”.
What happened to the queen’s picture?
Or is that on the other side?
This is a difference in personal opinion, of course, and I don’t mean to offend, but I think at some point, we’ll get over ourselves and judge aesthetics based on aesthetics, not just on being cool or edgy or modern*. Assymetry and semi-abstraction certainly can be aesthetically pleasing, and as always, what is beautiful to me is often very different from what is beautiful to others, but novelty gets old real fast. To me, coins in which part of the design is deliberately chopped off to the point of obscuring the contents is kind of pointless.
As for these specific coins, it is really neat that you can form a bigger image out of them and I do quite like some of them individually, but ideally, each of the smaller, coin-based images would be able to hold their own as well. I don’t think the one penny, five pence or twenty pence coins in particular do. YMMV, of course.
*I’m not accusing those who like the designs of doing so based only on this. Heck, I’d be insulting myself if I did so. It is true, though, that sometimes people do, and it *is *the aspect that you brought up.
Other side.
It would be excellent if the Queen’s image on the other side was also designed according to the same principle-- her left eye on the 2p, nose on the 5p, and so forth. Line them up correctly to create the Royal portrait! Or mix them up to create your own space alien!
I can imagine people playing with the Queen’s head, arranging her facial features on a tabletop in North Wales and enjoying them.
They could cook them, too. Except they’d need to discover fire first.
I would love to say that these are really great - they ARE!- but I see a huge problem, to wit:
In not very many years, the 1 and 2 pence will be gone, and the very creative & neat “collective” design will be incomplete. Not the end of the world perhaps, though I feel that something that’s intended to be around for several decades should have taken this into account (the pun not intentional).
Don’t suppose any UK Dopers want to snail-mail me some shiny specimens of their new pocket money? Sorry, but our latest new coins aren’t generally much to brag about, or I’d offer to send a few in exchange. (Pun VERY intentional, and bad.)
Really, those look stunning. Any merkins who aren’t jealous, should be.
There’s not the same general desire to abandon small denomination coins which seems to exist in America. We still had the halfpenny as recently as the 1980s. The penny will be around for several more decades. And it’s a similar case with other European countries - Italy still had 5 lire coins in circulation up to the changeover to the Euro, and Spain had 1 pesata coins, each worth less than half a British penny.