A COLLECTION of colourful coins celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mr Men and Little Miss characters, have been released by the Royal Mint.
The Mr Men Little Miss commemorative coin collection features Mr Happy, Little Miss Sunshine and Little Miss Giggles with Mr Strong.
All three coin designs have been created by Heathfield resident Adam Hargreaves, son of creator Roger Hargreaves, to celebrate the characters' 50th anniversary.
The Uncirculated versions of the coins features the latest colour printing techniques showcasing the Mr Men and Little Miss characters in glorious colour.
Adam said he was proud to have been involved in the creation of the coins.
He said: "It is an absolute honour to not only have the Mr Men Little Miss characters feature on official UK commemorative coins but to have the opportunity to create the designs that feature on the coins too.
"Over the past 50 years the Mr Men Little Miss characters have grown to become a global favourite amongst many and I am delighted to be celebrating 50 years of fun with the Royal Mint.
"I hope fans of the Mr Men Little Miss series will be just as thrilled with this commemorative coin collection as I am.”
The Royal Mint will also be hiding 50 golden Mr Tickle tickets among all three of the commemorative coins.
Every customer who finds a gold Mr Tickle ticket will be entitled to a Mr Men and Little Miss prize bundle.
The Mr Men Little Miss books were created in 1971 by the illustrator Roger Hargreaves.
The simple, fun stories with brightly coloured, boldly drawn illustrations were an instant success, selling more than a million copies in three years, and turned into an animated TV series, narrated by Arthur Lowe.
The inspiration came in the form of a simple question... what does a tickle look like? The answer was Mr Tickle, who is now one of more than 90 characters in an ever-growing collection, read in multiple languages in more than 24 countries around the world.
Today, the Mr Men Little Miss characters are illustrated by Adam, captivating a new generation of fans with each passing decade.
The first coin in the series features Mr Happy and is available as gold and silver proof editions, as well as a Brilliant uncirculated edition and a special colour printed brilliant uncirculated edition, exclusively available from the Royal Mint.
Visit www.royalmint.com/MrMen to view the full commemorative coin range.
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