‘Big Brother is watching you’: Collector’s coin marks George Orwell’s death 75 years ago

LONDON — A commemorative coin featuring the image of an eye and the inscription “Big Brother is watching you” is being released to pay tribute to “Nineteen Eighty-four” author George Orwell and mark his death 75 years ago.

The 2-pound ($2.40) coin depicts what appears to be an eye but is a camera lens, and the coin’s edge is inscribed with another quote from Orwell’s dystopian novel: “There was truth and there was untruth.”

Coinage artist Henry Gray said the theme of totalitarianism was central to his design.

“With phones and cameras being everywhere in your house, and being listened to by advertisers on your phone, you are really aware of how you’re being surveyed — and that’s what ‘1984’ is all about,” he said.

“That’s why the eye (in the design) isn’t a realistic eye. It doesn’t have eyelashes and things like that because I wanted it to be monocular. It’s almost like a camera lens staring at you all the time, unblinking.”

The novel, set in a fictional future, depicts civil servant Winston Smith’s secret rebellion against a totalitarian government and its leader, Big Brother.

Orwell, who also wrote the political fable “Animal Farm,” died in a London hospital at age 46 on Jan. 21, 1950, a few months after “Nineteen Eighty-four” was published.

The Royal Mint said the collector’s coin will be released on Wednesday with prices starting from 17.50 pounds each.

Other literary figures who have been commemorated on 2-pound coins include William Shakespeare, Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkien.