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New £2 coins celebrating 100 years since Dame Agatha Christie’s first novel was published are being put on sale by the Royal Mint.
Dame Agatha’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, introduced Belgian detective Hercule Poirot to the world when it was published in October 1920.
The novel ushered in a golden age of mystery novels in the 1920s and 1930s and Dame Agatha’s tales have been published in more than 50 languages and distributed in some 100 countries.
The popularity of Dame Agatha’s work endures, with a new star-studded film version of another Poirot tale, Death On The Nile, featuring Sir Kenneth Branagh, set for release soon.
The new £2 coin is being made available to buy on the Royal Mint’s website in different metals, with prices ranging from £10 for a brilliant uncirculated version to £1,115 for a gold coin.
The Mint said it will not be releasing the coins into general circulation.
Designed by David Lawrence, the coin features jigsaw pieces and a replication of Dame Agatha’s signature.
The coin’s edge is inscribed with the phrase “Little grey cells”, first used by Poirot in The Mysterious Affair At Styles.
Clare Maclennan, divisional director of commemorative coin at the Royal Mint, said: “This year marks the 100th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s first published novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles.
“To commemorate the significant anniversary, we are delighted to introduce this commemorative £2 coin to celebrate 100 years of mystery and honour the best-selling novelist of all time.
“The coin’s design is adorned with all the hallmarks of an Agatha Christie novel, with the jigsaw pieces representing ingenious plot twists that we are all familiar with when reading her mystery novels.”
Dame Agatha’s great-grandson, James Prichard, who is chairman and chief executive of Agatha Christie Limited, said: “I’m delighted that the Royal Mint are honouring the work of my great-grandmother in this way. She was, quite simply, a genius, and it is fantastic to see her stories and characters continuing to receive such recognition 100 years after her first novel was published.”
Designer Mr Lawrence said: “The coin was about Agatha Christie’s incredible creativity – referencing just one element from such a vast body of work would not adequately sum up her contribution to the mystery genre.
“The jigsaw turned out to be the best metaphor for an Agatha Christie mystery: the story is gradually pieced together but it is not until the final missing piece is dropped into place that the whole picture can be seen.”
