Commons:Deletion requests/UK coins minted after 1969

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This deletion discussion is now closed. Please do not make any edits to this archive. You can read the deletion policy or ask a question at the Village pump. If the circumstances surrounding this file have changed in a notable manner, you may re-nominate this file or ask for it to be undeleted.

UK Coins minted in after 1969

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All of these are images of UK coins minted after 1969. COM:UK#Currency says that UK coin designs are copyrighted by the Royal Mint, and that images of coins minted fifty years ago or less are not permissible.

The UK 0.5p, 1p and 2p decimal coins were first minted in 1971, images of these coins will not be allowed before at least 2022. The 20p, £1 and £2 coins were introduced after 1971. The 5p, 10p and 50p coins were first minted before 1970, but the coins minted before 1982 bear the words 'NEW PENNY' or 'NEW PENCE' whereas later coins have the value in words. Verbcatcher (talk) 10:56, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The date on the coin is not determinative, it is the date of the design. If the design is beyond Crown Copyright, the date is immaterial.
The various Maundy coinages show designs first used (obverse, Queen's head) in 1953 and the reverse (crested denomination) in 1816 (as modified in 1888 for the twopence). The reverse of the sovereign (St George and dragon) was first issued in 1817 and has remained more or less unchanged since 1871. They are out of copyright regardless of date. All decimal coin designs were published in 1968, and wallets containing a set of five (all but the 50p) were put on sale before 1971, including 1971-dated 1/2p, 1p and 2p, see here, I will research for the exact date.
Thus, the sovereigns, Maundy, and pre-2008 (when designs changed) reverses of the 1/2p, 1p, 2p, 10p and 50p should be safe, as Crown Copyright expired 1 January of the 51st year after publication of design. So should the 1970 proof set as none of the designs was from 1970, each was from 1937 (1/2d and 1d) or 1953 (the others).--Wehwalt (talk) 12:28, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding the bronze coinage (1/2p, 1p, 2p), I find in Richard Lobel's Coincraft's 2000 Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins (London: Standard Catalogue Publishers Ltd, 1999) at p. 633, "The 50 pence coin was introduced in 1969, and the new bronze coinage was made available in 1968 as part of a specimen set in a wallet The bronze coins in this date were dated 1971 and were not legal tender until decimal day in 1971." So the original decimal coins were first issued all in 1968 (for the 10p see page 642 of that work, for the 5p see page 643) except the 50p which was issued in 1969. I don't know if the wording change of 1982 referenced by Verbcatcher constitutes a new design or not, but decimal coins dated 1968 to 1981 and all coinage designs which had their origins pre-decimal should be safely out of copyright.--Wehwalt (talk) 12:51, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
You may well be correct that we should be concerned with the introduction date of the design and not the minting date. If so then COM:CUR UK should be updated to clarify this.
If the significant date is that the of the design then it seems likely that a change of text (e.g. from 'NEW PENCE' to 'TWO PENCE') is not significant. Non-literary text in a simple typeface is ineligible for copyright (see {{PD-text}}), so a change in text would probably not amount to a new design.
The 20p, £1 and £2 coins, the bullion coins and the 'decimal sixpence' were all introduced in 1982 or later, so these are in copyright. Verbcatcher (talk) 13:36, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed. I think some clarification there is in order. For after all, the only difference between a 1969 coin (which must be Crown Copyright expired) and a 1970 of the same design is a trivial typographic change.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:15, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Wehwalt has updated COM:CUR UK in the light of this discussion, and I do not disagree with this change. Editors wishing to understand the above discussion should refer to the previous version of COM:CUR UK, here. Verbcatcher (talk) 18:59, 14 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I propose that we assume that Wehwalt's analysis is correct, and that we should allow an image of any UK coin where the design of the visible side of the coin is essentially the same as that of an earlier coin that was issued more then 50 years ago. The implications for UK decimal coins are:
  • Obverse side ('heads'): the following portrait heads of the queen are out of copyright: Mary Gillick (1953), Arnold Machin (1968). The following are in copyright: Raphael Maklouf (1985), Ian Rank-Broadley (1997), Jody Clark (2015).[1]
  • Reverse side ('tails') The designs introduced in the first set of decimal coins dated 1969 to 1971 are out of copyright, on the basis of the 1968 sample set. The Matthew Dent 'shield' designs introduced from 2008 are in copyright. All commemorative designs are in copyright.
  • Minor textual changes including the date and 'NEW PENCE' to 'TWO PENCE' do not create a new copyright.
  • The smaller 5p and 10p coins (introduced 1990 and 1992) use the Maklouf or later heads, so we can ignore the issue of whether the change in size created a new copyright.
  • All 20p coins are in copyright (introduced 1982)
  • All £1 coins are in copyright (introduced 1983, new version 2015)
  • All £2 coins are in copyright (introduced 1998)
  • Maundy coins use pre-decimal designs with the Gilick head, and are out of copyright.
  • Bullion coins - The Pistrucci design of St George and the dragon used on sovereigns and their multiples and fractions is out of copyright. All other reverse designs are in copyright.
I will go through the files and will strike through any that should be allowed on this basis. Verbcatcher (talk) 09:05, 15 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Some of the marked images are ones I uploaded on the understanding that reproduction of UK coin designs on Wikipedia is considered to fall within the copyright guidelines of the Royal Mint, provided that the coin design are reproduced faithfully in an appropriate context. Can you please clarify whether the above would fall foul of that? --SquareRootofBlue
@SquareRootofBlue: the Royal Mint's guidelines[2] are incompatable with Commons licensing policy because they do not allow commercial use without specific authorisation, and because they restrict the publication of derivative works.Verbcatcher (talk) 13:44, 15 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Kept: Mixed close: Per discussion. If anyone feels one was deleted or kept by mistake by me, please let me know, I am not opposed to further work on this topic. This was a long close and they always introduce the possibility of error. --Ellin Beltz (talk) 18:15, 15 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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