Charles Dickens' 200th anniversary celebrated in new UK coin

The Royal Mint is set to issue a new £2 coin to commemorate the 200th anniversary in 2012 of the birth of Charles Dickens.

The new coin, designed by artist Matthew Dent, creates a view of the author in profile through the clever arrangement of his books' titles, 'literally in his own words' as the Mint puts it.

The edge of the coin is inscribed with a phrase spoken by Wilkins Micawber in Dickens' own favourite of his books, David Copperfield: 'Something will turn up.'

Matthew Dent said: 'I wanted the design of the coin to reference both the immense contribution Dickens has made to British literature and his iconic portrait.

'The visual reference for the portrait was based on a bust of a bearded Dickens which is part of the collection of the Charles Dickens Museum in London. The typography that takes portrait form uses several different typefaces; from ones that would have existed during his lifetime, to ones that were designed since his death, symbolic of the enduring popularity of his work.'

Before it goes into official circulation in 2012, the £2 coin is available as a 'Brilliant Uncirculated' commemorative edition, for £8.50 - unlikely, perhaps, to appeal to Scrooge types - from the Royal Mint.