Okay…. So this first match in the ‘Coin Arena’ should be a short one.
‘Alice in Wonderland’. It is a lovely story (we will forget for a moment about Lewis Carroll and the persistent rumours about his ‘interest’ in underage girls….) and it has the most wonderful illustrations to go with it. Over the years many artists have tried to ‘rework’ these or to give them ‘a more modern slant’. Some results have been half-decent and some have been total crap. I have seen many interpretations and as far as I am concerned, you cannot improve on perfection. John Tenniel rocks and I am a proud traditionalist as far as ‘Alice’ pics go. Sorry.
When the Isle of Man decided on creating a range of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ coins in 2021, they opted for ‘a more modern slant’. Oh dear…. To make matters worse, I would personally say that the chosen illustrations are more in the pants camp than the half-decent one. I mean seriously….. Stephen Lee is good at what he does – cartoon and caricature. In fact, he is very good. But to have him apply this style to characters from this timeless classic is a travesty as far as I am concerned. Sure, the whole tale is surreal, but in a realistic and sometimes genuinely creepy way. There is indeed a darkness to the story and this is not really conveyed through overly colourful illustrations that are far too jaunty, angular and LOUD.
Why oh why did the Isle of Man treasury feel it necessary to create something like this???? Unless of course they were unable to obtain permission to use the John Tenniel drawings because…. later that same year, The Royal Mint released two ‘Alice’ five pound coins; one for ‘Wonderland’ and another for ‘Looking Glass’. Both of these are graced with the artwork of John Tenniel (thank the stars). And because of the amount of surface area in this denomination, his work is clear, crisp and clean. The standard brilliant uncirculated are nice…. but the colour versions really are something else.
So there we have it, a total knockout within the first few seconds of the match. It was no contest really.
© Article and images copyright Mik Smith 2022
