The new British one pound coin has been designed by a 15-year-old who beat out more than 6,000 entries.
David Pearce’s drawing contains the national emblems of the United Kingdom, with a rose, leek, thistle and shamrock emerging from a Royal Coronet, reports Sky News. The drawing was slightly refined by coin artist David Lawrence and lettering expert Stephen Raw.
The teenager from the West Midlands city of Walsall said, “I spent a lot of time researching what coin designs looked like and what sort of designs would represent all parts of the UK before submitting my idea and I honestly cannot believe I have won.”
The Royal Mint
The coin is being replaced for the first time in more than 30 years because of its vulnerability to counterfeiters.
Pearce’s design will feature on the new currency that will be released in 2017.
LIFE With Elizabeth II: Rare and Classic Photos of the Queen
Princess Margaret (left), the future Queen Elizabeth II (third from left) and the Queen Mother (third from right) with the Grenadier guards on the occasion of Princess Elizabeth's birthday, 1942.David E. Scherman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II ("a little fagged after four days of royal touring," as LIFE put it in its Dec. 7, 1953, issue) prepares to speak at University of the West Indies, Jamaica, 1953.Cornell Capa—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II watches a University of Maryland vs. University of North Carolina football game at Maryland's Byrd Stadium during her 1957 official visit to the United States.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth with Prince Charles and Elizabeth II at Princess Margaret's wedding, 1960.Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II speaking at a State Dinner in Ghana, 1961.Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II shakes hands with a well-wisher while standing next to the General and Governor of Bermuda, Sir Alexander Hood, 1961.Lisa Larsen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II upon her arrival in India in 1961, the first British monarch to visit since George V in 1911. Hank Walker—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II during a visit to Sudan, 1964.John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II in Ethiopia, 1965.John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II in Ethiopia, 1965.John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II in Ethiopia, 1965.John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II (right) and Prince Philip on a tour of Trinidad and Tobago, 1966.Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II during her 1966 tour of the Caribbean.Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
