The Great Olympic Debate – The Royal Mint or Royal Mail? You decide…
So who did better capturing the essence of the Olympic Games? The Royal Mail, with their combination of Olympic Sport Stamps and Gold Medal Winner stamps or Royal Mint with their countdown series of £5 collector coins and general circulation 50 pence sports coins?
Tell us your preference and why with the poll and comments below.
Join the debate – leave a reply below…
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the stamps are much better they portray the spirit of the games
The Royal Mail stamps are a much better preference. Aside from being less costlier they represent the Gold Medal Winners. So much simpler to refer back to and display. Royal Mint coins display the event and are a keepsake rather than a display item
I like them both but i enjoyed getting the 50ps in my change more , never really looked at 50ps before but now I check them all the time! So glad we did so well anyway, won’t be giving my 50ps away any time soon!
Royal Mail all the way! The stamps have got the people that won on them and capture the spirit of the Olympics. While some of the coin designs are OK, some are just a bit random for my liking.
Whilst at this point it seems three quarters of responders prefer the Royal Mint coins to the Royal Mail stamps, I must disagree.
Not to say that I don’t like the coins, but to say I think the stamps are more colourful and pleasing to the eye. There is more you can do with the stamps. First day covers, mint mini-sheets, printers sheets.
There are six different issues of Olympic stamps this year also. The definitives from January 5th, Welcome to the Olympics from July 27th, Gold medal winners the day after each win, Welcome to the Paralympics from 29th August, Gold medal winners the day after each win, Memories of the London Olympics from 27th September. Not only this but in the years leading up to the Olympics Royal Mail issued other sets of stamps to commemorate this.
All the Royal Mint did was issue a set of two £5 coins which cost £15 each ! and 29 50p circulation coins which are difficult to collect in full because you have to pull the coins out of your change. There is an element of luck involved in getting the coin you need. Of course you could buy the uncirculated collection for a price. My vote is still with the Royal Mail on this, for the ease of buying at the Post Office and the choice of issues. Saying this though, I wish Royal Mail would cut down on the amount of other Commemorative issues through the year and keep them to the lower priced stamps.