UK Royal Mint to honour Iron Maiden’s 50th anniversary with new coin

8 July, 2025

Iron Maiden‘s 50th anniversary will be honoured with a new coin made by the Royal Mint.

The band are in the midst of their monstrous European and UK ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour, which kicked off on May 28 in Budapest.

Now, alongside their tour, Iron Maiden are celebrating their 50th anniversary with a specially designed coin unveiled by the Royal Mind today. Designed by artist Albert ‘Akirant’ Quirantes, mascot Eddie is featured at the very centre of the coin. There’s also plenty of easter eggs referencing Iron Maiden’s mighty career on the intricately-designed coin.

Speaking about the coin, Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said: “Having Eddie on an official UK coin is a continuation of his incredible odyssey since we unearthed him back in 1980. We’ve been on stamps, beer bottles, plane tails and now legal tender! The detail Akirant has managed to pack into the design is superb – there are little nods to virtually every chapter of our journey as a band.

“We’re truly honoured that The Royal Mint has chosen to commemorate 50 years of Iron Maiden in such a unique way.” Take a closer look on the second slide of the Instagram post below:

On their ‘Run For Your Lives’ tour, Iron Maiden has performed a special setlist containing only songs from their first nine studio albums, from their self-titled debut to ‘Fear Of The Dark’.

Nine of the 17 songs played were performed for the first time in numerous years, including opening song ‘Murders In The Rue Morgue’ and ‘Killers’ – the latter of which they hadn’t played since 1999.

It’s also their first run of shows with new touring drummer Simon Dawson, who was appointed following the touring retirement of long-term sticksman Nicko McBrain. McBrain announced he would be “taking a step back” from touring last year due to suffering a minor stroke in 2023, which left him partially paralysed on his right side from the shoulder down.

Elsewhere, Dickinson recently announced a graphic novel made with soil from William Blake’s grave, and opened up about the Di’Anno era song he can no longer sing.

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