Info
The If Pound Project
£1 coin laminated on card
10cm x 15cm
Limited edition of 100
Unavailable/Sold Out (join newsletter for alerts)
Description
The If Pound Project is an experiment in value, ownership and the invisible forces that govern our choices. Launched nearly 15 years ago, it consists of a £1 coin laminated onto a small piece of card and sold for just 71p - less than its face value. Each buyer faced a choice: preserve the artwork or cut it open to retrieve the coin and unlock an immediate and minuscule profit.
All 100 copies were sold during an exhibition in Leeds, UK. Some buyers destroyed their pieces straight away to claim the £1, but most hesitated. One copy was also requested by The Royal Mint Museum.
The sale itself was inevitable as the offer was too good to refuse but the works were designed to be deliberately inconvenient: too plain to display yet too charged with the possibility of future value to throw away.
What seemed like a simple transaction became something else entirely - an object caught in a strange limbo, refusing to disappear or find purpose.
Since its inception, the £1 coin used in the project has been withdrawn from circulation, adding another layer to the dilemma. As time passes and currency changes, these pieces may only become harder to discard - the decision evolving, rather than resolving.
