Centenary of the Start of the Race to the South Pole - 2010 Unc. Cupro Nickel £2 Coin - SGA

One hundred years ago, the legendary ‘Race to the South Pole’ between Britain’s Robert Falcon Scott and Norway’s Roald Amundsen reached its dramatic conclusion.  To commemorate the Centenary of the start of this historic race, Pobjoy Mint is delighted to announce the release of a new coin on behalf of South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands which has an obverse date of 2010.

Amongst the members of the original team who set out in 1910 was a successful travel photographer, Herbert Ponting who was the first official photographer to participate in a polar expedition. 

Herbert Ponting presented these photographs to King George V and they were particularly impressed with his image of the ‘ice grotto’ which is now one of Ponting’s most iconic images.  The design on the coin itself is an interpretation of this scene and is shown as though looking out from an Antarctic Ice Grotto with two explorers on the ice outside and the Terra Nova ship shown in the background.