The Royal Mint launches Through the Looking Glass coin designed by Welsh artist

The Royal Mint has today launched a commemorative £5 crown to celebrate 150 years of Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, designed by Welsh artist Ffion Gwillim. 

The 24-year-old designer, originally from Abercynon, has immortalised Alice and her friends in Wonderland for the first time on official UK coin. Taking inspiration from Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations of the treasured Through the Looking-Glass tale, which was first published 150 years ago, the coin features Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Ffion also designed the official Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland coin, featuring Alice and the Cheshire Cat, which launched last month alongside the original illustrations at the Victoria and Albert Museum.   

Available in gold, silver and brilliant uncirculated, and also available in special colour edition, the latest design uses traditional minting techniques and innovative design technology to capture Alice’s meeting with Tweedledum and Tweedledee alongside the inscription ‘Through the Looking-Glass’. Based on the intricate detail of Tenniel’s illustrations, the design is one of the most detailed coins produced by the 1,100-year-old Makers. 

The youngest in-house designer at The Royal Mint, Ffion joined the Original Makers, based in Llantrisant, in 2020 following three-years at University of South Wales studying Graphic Communication. As with all coins produced by The Royal Mint, Ffion’s designs were submitted to an independent body, The Royal Mint Advisory Committee, before being shared with the Chancellor and Her Majesty the Queen.

Speaking of the achievement of being selected to celebrate the much-loved classic tales of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass on UK coin, Ffion said: “It is such a huge honour to design the official Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass commemorative coin. As a designer at the Royal Mint, it is the ultimate achievement, and this project was particularly exciting for me as I grew up with these stories – they evoke fantastic childhood memories for me and so many others – and I’ve loved every minute.” 

As well as earning her the top honour of designing the two-coin series, as seen by The Queen, Ffion has wowed The Royal Mint’s Product Design Lead Lee Jones since joining the team. Lee Jones said: “Making something original when using existing illustrations is a task, however Ffion provided us with great compositions and a fantastically inventive logotype that breaths fresh air into Alice’s Wonderland.”

From today, collectors can purchase the second coin, celebrating Through the Looking Glass, on a commemorative £5 crown from The Royal Mint. 

Read more about The Royal Mint’s designer and the two-coin Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland series, in collaboration with the V&A, and watch how her designs came to life alongside the work of The Royal Mint’s Sculptor Emma Noble at The Royal Mint website: here.