Our change is as good as the SAVING 50P COINS COULD BE A WISE INVESTMENT
IKNOW someone who runs an event that costs 50p to enter (and I’m being deliberately vague about who and what). Counting the takings after each event, said organiser checks every 50p coin looking for special-edition examples like the ones pictured here.
It can prove lucrative. Some are worth £2, some £4, while the rarest currently in general circulation can fetch as much as £80. There was even a court case last year in which it was alleged a coin collector was stabbed to death by a burglar who stole the victim’s collection of the rarities.
The special-edition coin every collector is hoping will emerge is an example of the so-called Brexit 50p … stamped with either of the two aborted dates: March 29 or October 31, 2019.
For the latter, the then chancellor, Philip Hammond, planned to mark Britain’s exit from the EU with 10,000 special coins.
Hammond’s successor, Sajid Javid, who recently resigned from the post, was quick to respond, ordering the Royal Mint to produce up to 10 million 50ps but was then forced to backtrack when the new date of January 31, 2020 was set.
The Royal Mint declined to say how many October 31 coins had been produced, to say nothing of the 1,000 porotypes intended to be released on the first Brexit date of March 31.
They asserted, however, that all would be shredded, melted down, purified and solidified before being recycled.
But what if, say, a proof copy of the Halloween deadline coin ever came onto the market? Collectors would fight hard to secure ownership. It has happened before (see panel).
The 50p has been long been regarded as the coin of choice to mark important historical dates and landmark events.
One was minted in 1973 to mark Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the EU, which featured a design of nine interlocking hands, representing the nine existing members. Another was issued to
The clearer second version of the 2012 Olympic swimming coin mark the 25th anniversary of EEC membership in 1998. Others marked the Royal Air Force’s centenary, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s platinum wedding anniversary, and the 1966 football World Cup.
There was even a limited edition
COINS struck by the Royal Mint but never put into circulation can have staggering values if they ever come onto the market.
This 1937 pattern penny was made as a trial ahead of Edward VIII’s abdication in December 1936 but never released for circulation.
A set of Edward VIII pattern coins was added to the Royal Collection but the remainder were stored in a safe of the
The 1937 pattern penny made as a trial ahead of Edward VIII’s abdication, which sold for £111,000. Photograph Spink deputy master of the Royal Mint and not rediscovered until his death in 1950.
It was then that a second set of coins was created. Some were science behind its shape, known as the “equilateral curve heptagon”.
The coin was released in October last year and can be purchased online from the Royal Mint and at the visitor centre in Llantrisant, South Wales.
Prices start from £10.
Over the 50 years, the 50p has featured more than 60 designs on the reverse, commemorating the military, key political moments, sporting achievements and many other aspects of British culture.
So which ones should we be looking out for in our small change? Rarest and most sought after of all is the one created to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens in 2009.
Depicting Kew’s famous pagoda, it was minted in a relatively small batch of only 210,000 and can fetch around £80. A rare limited edition silver uncirculated proof version sold for £400 in an auction in 2018.
The 2012 London Olympics produced a huge range of twenty nine 50p designs, each representing a different sport and these are increasingly scarce. Last year, the swimmer coin sold in an online auction for a staggering £590.
However, it was one of only 600 which showed the swimmer’s face obscured by wavy lines representing water. The design was subsequently amended to show the athlete in action but in a less obscured view.
Coins representing football (explaining the offside rule), judo, triathlon, and wrestling respectively top the list with values ranging from £25. Less rare examples care worth around £7-£8, depending on condition.
Continually popular are the various coins in the Beatrix Potter range, first minted in 2016 to mark 150 years since the author’s birth, although some have been released later.
Naturally enough, the Peter Rabbit, Flopsy Bunny and Jemima Puddle Duck coins are the rarest and most sought after. A 2016-minted coin showing Peter’s head and shoulders is worth £10-12, while a 2019 version showing him full length can be had for £4.50.
The other characters have values ranging from £2-£4, about the same value as other less valuable designs including tributes to the NHS,
Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, the Girl Guides, Scouting, Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile, and the Victoria Cross.
And what of the new Brexit 50p? Aside from the controversy over whether or not the inscription “Peace, prosperity and friendship to all nations” needed an Oxford comma, don’t hold your breath.
With 10 million in circulation by the end of the year, one of only three commemorative 50ps to be minted in such a high number since 2015, it’ll be worth only face value. Look out instead for one with either of the two wrong dates!