200 years since the birth of a monster – The 2018 Mary Shelly £2
The 2018 Mary Shelly £2 was issued to celebrate the 200th birthday of one of the most infamous fictional characters in historic literature – Frankenstein’s Monster!
To celebrate this important literary bi-centenary, The Royal Mint released a commemorative £2. The reverse features the word ‘Frankenstein’ in electric gothic font, along with ‘Bicentenary of Mary Shelley’s The Modern Prometheus’ written around the edge.
The edge inscription reads ‘A spark of being’, the words of Dr Victor Frankenstein when he creates ‘creature’.
The monster behind the story
With film adaptations across various genres, from the quasi-rock opera The Rocky Horror Picture Show, to sci-fi classics like Prometheus, the tale of the dysfunctional Victor Frankenstein and his mad scientific invention is known by all of us in some shape or form.
Image credit: Universal 2004, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In the gothic tale, written by Mary Shelley, an obsessed Victor Frankenstein attempts to bring a corpse back to life in his laboratory through mad methods of chemistry, alchemy and a ‘flash’ of electricity.
Do you have the 2018 Mary Shelley £2 in your collection? Let us know in the comments!
Are or have these gone/going into general circulation ?
Hi Jackie, these coins are not currently in circulation. Hope this helps. Thanks, Yasmin