Decus Et Tutamen
Introduced on 21 April 1986, the Northern Ireland flax coin also has an edge inscription of DECUS ET TUTAMEN meaning ‘an ornament and a safeguard’. Scarcity rating: 14 10. Decus et Tutamen. Decus et Tutamen first appeared on some of the earliest British milled (machine made) coins. It was intended to reassure users that the edge of the coins had not been clipped, but could also be taken to mean that the monarch depicted was also an ornament and a safeguard. Decus et Tutamen. 1983 £1 Pound Coin DECUS ET TUTAMEN first Ever Issued Pound Coin RARE. 0 bids Ending 8 Feb at 7:34AM GMT 1d 10h. SILVER PROOF £1 ONE POUND COINS CHOICE OF YEAR 1983 TO 2015 WITH COA. £24.99 to £39.99. Click & Collect. English words for tutamen include protection, defense, refuge, care, preservation, shelter, defence, security and guard. Find more Latin words at wordhippo.com! We should have had “NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT” as the inscription, but yet again the fake reads “DECUS ET TUTAMEN“. I guess this is the phrase most people associate with one pound coins, regardless of the image on the reverse. It’s very poorly inscribed and only half the coin has a milled edge. Last one then Example #12.
The Story:
I’m conscious I spend a lot of time photographing the big wide outside world. Not many of my photos are of everyday objects in a more micro environment. Armed with a bit of time to spare I started to play around with coins on my desk, learning which DSLR setting produced the best picture. When you’re out and about you don’t often have time to sit around changing the shutter speed or adjusting the ISO to achieve that perfect shot. This is something I should do more often.
I began just shooting stacks of coins, varying the coins I was using and the shooting angle. I then noticed and remembered that £1 and £2 coins have writing around the edges. I recalled reading that the Oasis album ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’ came from the writing on a £2 coin, which in turn comes from a quote by Sir Isaac Newton. Frustrated by the fact I had no £2 coins lying around I turned my attention to £1 coins, having never previously really given the writing a second glance.
Luckily the coins I had all had the same message – ‘Decus et Tutamen’ – ‘an ornament and a safeguard’ to those, like me, who either never paid attention in Latin class or had the inclination to study it. I guess you could get into fairly philosophical arguments over the significance of this phrase but I will leave you to ponder that…
The Photograph:
As mentioned above, I spent quite a while playing around with different layouts of coins before deciding to focus on the edges. Coins are an every day item to us. We may notice the different images and patterns on the faces of the coins but I’m betting not many will turn the coin on its side and look at the extra detail there.
There are several different phases in use on £1 coins but with this one I discovered the four coins I had all beared the same phrase, consisting of three words and a mint mark (a cross representing Llantrisant in South Wales, where the Royal Mint has been based since 1968) enabling me to rotate the coins until each displayed a different part of the phrase, stacking them one on top of the other so that you can read it in order.
I like the blank background on the image as this allows you to concentrate wholly on the writing and completely coincidentally the date visible on the top, in focus, is of course the year the photo was taken, giving it a sort of date stamp.
The Technical Stuff:
Decus Et Tutamen Coin
Camera: Nikon D3200
F-Stop: f/20
Exposure: 6 secs
ISO: 100
Focus length: 55mm
Editing: Picture cropped and warming tones added. The image was shot with a x10 macro lens.