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Royal Mint releases Star Trek branded 50 pence coins
The Royal Mint has released a limited edition series of 50p coins to mark Star Trek’s 60th anniversary, and it comes with royal approval.
(c) Royal Mint
The coins are collectables, so not the sort you would see in the shop anytime soon, but all coins issued by the Royal Mint need a formal proclamation from the King to authorise them.
And a few months ago, King Charles III issued a proclamation announcing that it “appears to Us desirable to order that there should be made at Our Mint a new series of coins”, and announced that a series of 50 pence coins could be minted to mark the Star Trek anniversary.
In the rather narrow sense, that means they are legal tender. However, legal tender only applies to payments for debts issued by courts and paid in coins – so no, your Scottish bank notes are not legal tender.
But it does mean, in theory, that someone could pay off a court-ordered debt using Star Trek coinage.
Of course, it would be very silly to do so, because that coin might be 50p in legal tender, but as it’s a special collectable, it would cost you at least £20 to buy one.
Which would make settling a £100 debt very expensive indeed.
The other quirk is that, as the coins are legal tender, some will be subjected to next year’s Trial of the Pyx to ensure they have been correctly minted. Which means, in theory, as head of the Royal Mint, the Chancellor of the Exchequer could be found guilty of incorrectly minting Star Trek coins. The mint hasn’t made a mistake in some 400 years, so the chances are vanishingly slim, but in theory… who knows!
But back to the coins, the first of the new issue features the Vulcan salute alongside the phrase “Live Long & Prosper” and “Star Trek 60,”.
The second coin, available in November, showcases four spacecraft spanning different eras of the franchise: U.S.S Voyager NCC-74656, the U.S.S Enterprise NCC-1701, Enterprise – NCC-1701-D and the Klingon Bird of Prey along with the phrase “Star Trek 60”.
A selection of the coins will also feature colour, echoing the franchise’s own television history. When Star Trek first aired in 1966, the cast’s vivid uniforms were deliberately designed to stand out on the new colour television sets just becoming available to audiences at the time.
The Royal Mint is selling the coins **here**.