The idea for Harry Potter, the boy in glasses who didn’t yet know he was a wizard, first came to J.K. Rowling during a delayed train journey from Manchester to London. From that moment of magic, the Boy Who Lived was imagined into being – an unassuming, eleven-year-old hero destined to face terrible danger, but also find greatness within himself. In 1997, Bloomsbury Children’s Books published Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – a spellbinding story about a boy wizard and his friends that has inspired a love of reading in countless young people all over the world.

To mark 25 years since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, The Royal Mint is celebrating this classic of children’s literature with a collection of UK coins. The reverse of each coin will feature an original illustration by Jim Kay, the artist who created the first fully illustrated edition of this Harry Potter story. The third coin design will feature Professor Dumbledore, following a coin featuring Harry Potter and one showing the Hogwarts Express. One further design, featuring Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, will follow.