This year the Royal British Mint issued a £2 commemorative coin to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. The design takes the approach of creating a profile of the author constructed from the titles of some of his works.

The designer of the coin Matthew Dent included the titles in different fonts and sizes to create a visual image that resembles a profile of the famous author. The coins were issued in standard base metal composition with silver and gold versions released later in the year.

Upon seeing this coin, I was immediately reminded of the design for a five euro silver coin issued by the Royal Dutch Mint to commemorate the Netherlands and Architecture.

The designer of this coin was Stani Michiels who created the design using free software. The names of important architects from Dutch history are placed in a concentric spiral. The designer used the internet as a popularity meter to determine the order of appearance with the outermost names appearing in the largest size, progressing to smaller sizes for the innermost names. Certain letters are selectively emboldened to form the image of Queen Beatrix.

The Netherlands and Architecture 5 Euro Silver Coin was released in 2008. At the time, I had been collecting almost exclusively United States coins, but I was intrigued enough to track down this coin to see it in hand. Since this time I have greatly expanded my coverage and collecting of world coin issues.