It’s all change! Your Scarcity Index Update…

It’s time for your latest Scarcity Index update, where we reveal the UK’s most sought-after circulation coins of the last three months! As we continue to go out and spend more cash, we’ve seen some BIG movers and shakers on our Scarcity Index.

Our 50p index has been given a huge shakeup, with moves across the majority of the board! The same can be said for the £2 Index, with JUST four coins being untouched.

You can use the updated A-Z 10p, 50p and £2 indexes below to discover how sought-after the coins in your collection really are.

This information has been compiled using data from the Change Checker Swap Centre and presented in the easy to use indexes below, with arrows to signify how many places up or down a coin has moved since the last Scarcity Index.

50p Index

May 2022 50p Scarcity Index Update

It’s been a HUGE quarter for our 50p coins with this Scarcity Index update showing nearly all circulating UK 50p coins having moved around!

The Pentathlon 50p has climbed an incredible 12 places, pushing towards the top of our index. This coin has a circulating mintage of 1,689,500 which makes it one of the rarer 50ps in circulation.

Whilst it’s not the rarest Olympic 50p out there, all of these coins are incredibly popular with collectors, and have been since the 2012 Olympic Games!

Other key movers include the Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle 50p which has climbed by 12 places and the Handball 50p which has climbed by 8 places.

£2 Index

May 2022 £2 Scarcity Index

Another big shake up sees just FOUR coins on our £2 Index remain in the same place, with some huge movers causing a shuffle.

The Shakespeares Comedies £2 has been bumped down 12 places and the Gunpowder Plot £2 has climbed an impressive 9 places!

Other key movers to keep your eyes on are the Brunel – Paddington Station £2, which has climbed 9 places and the Florence Nightingale £2, which has climbed by 8.

A-Z 10p Index

May 2022 A-Z 10p Index

As the Change Checker team travelled up north on our Platinum Jubilee 50p coin swap tour, it seems the Lochness Monster 10p was following suit, as it climbs 13 places!

And as we approach the Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend, the Jubilee 10p has climbed up towards the top of the index. With growing interest in Jubilee themed coins, including the 2022 Platinum Jubilee 50p, there’s no surprises more collectors are wanting to get their hands on this 10p!

Other key movers include the NHS, Angel of the North, and Bond 10p coins, which have all climbed up 4 places.

Regardless of where they feature in the above index, if you have any of the A-Z 10ps in your collection you should consider yourself very lucky. A maximum of only 304,000 of each design entered circulation!

How your Scarcity Index works

Generally collectors have had to rely upon mintage figures to identify the scarcest coins.  But they only tell part of the story.  Trying to find a good quality coin from 15 – 20 years ago, even for a higher mintage issue, is much more challenging than a more recent issue, as coins become damaged over time and are ultimately removed from circulation.

Additionally, some designs are more hoarded than others by people who might not normally collect coins – the poignant First World War £2 Coin series being an example. Finally, it can be up to a couple of years before the Royal Mint eventually confirms the actual mintage for an issue.

That’s why we have combined the mintage information with two other key pieces of information.

  • How many of each design are listed as “collected” by Change Checkers, indicating the relative ease of finding a particular coin.
  • The number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous 3 months, showing the current level of collector demand.

Importantly, as new coins are released and popularity rises and falls across different designs the Scarcity Index will be updated quarterly allowing Change Checkers to track the relative performance of the UK’s circulation coins.

How much are my coins worth?

The Scarcity Index does not necessarily equate to value but it is certainly an effective indicator.  For example, the Kew Gardens 50p coin commands a premium of up to 200 times face value on eBay.

You can use the 6 point guide to help you determine a more realistic value for your coins.

What about £1 Coins?

The £1 Scarcity Index has already been published for the Round £1 coins and, because they are no longer being issued, this is now set in stone.

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20 Comments

  1. M3 on June 12, 2022 at 3:59 pm

    Do we have any website for online update scarcity index for daily use?



  2. Geoffrey Palfreyman on June 11, 2022 at 3:02 pm

    I have a 2 pound coin with racing cars on
    What scarcity is it



  3. Pablo on June 11, 2022 at 2:50 pm

    Are we ever going to get some new designs on the one pound coin?



  4. Richard Ball on May 20, 2022 at 10:46 pm

    When are you going to specify whether it’s the 2018 or 2019 10p’s that are in your Scarcity Index?



    • Kate Morgan on May 24, 2022 at 9:34 am

      Hi Richard, the A-Z 10p index is made up of combined mintages from both 2018 and 2019. I hope that helps!



  5. Wendy Wade on May 20, 2022 at 5:22 pm

    I have a £20 polymer note & on the back, on the bottom right corner amongst the yellow dots is stamped ‘jt83’. It does not appear on any other £20 polymer notes that I hold. Is it a countefeit ond or valid. Basically, why is it there?



  6. Stephanie Smith on May 20, 2022 at 2:58 pm

    uk withdrawal from the EU ,3rd from bottom on right hand side of the list



  7. Zac on May 20, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    Last weekend I found a Commonwealth Games England £2 coin and I was so shocked to see that it was the second rarest £2 coin!



    • Mikey Turtle [Not my real name] on May 20, 2022 at 2:17 pm

      Well done! I can’t wait to find one of those, my rarest coin is Football 50p and it cvame through the till at aldi!



      • Philip Ginn on May 20, 2022 at 5:33 pm

        It’s third from bottom, they have named it wrong, uk withdrawal from European union



    • Mikey Turtle [Not my real name] on May 20, 2022 at 2:17 pm

      Well done! I can’t wait to find one of those, my rarest coin is Football 50p and it came through the till at aldi!



  8. Peter Clarke on May 20, 2022 at 11:00 am

    I have scanned the 50p table several times but couldn’t see the so called ‘Brexit’ coin. What is it listed as, or is it nor there?
    I have two examples.



    • Stephanie Smith on May 20, 2022 at 2:58 pm

      uk withdrawal from the EU ,3rd from bottom on right hand side of the list



    • Lee S on May 20, 2022 at 3:10 pm

      Its listed as ‘UK withdrawal from the European Union” and its just above the Victoria Cross listings at the bottom of the second column.



    • John Corbishley on May 20, 2022 at 3:12 pm

      UK withdrawal from the European Union!



    • Steve Fraser on May 20, 2022 at 3:38 pm

      3rd from the end in right hand column. UK withdrawal from the European Union



  9. Glynn Hill on May 19, 2022 at 11:15 pm

    Nice to keep updated but link from email throws a wobbly and votes up with “Sorry this page does not exist”
    Maybe check link!



    • Kate Morgan on May 20, 2022 at 2:50 pm

      Hi Glynn, we’re so sorry, it looks like we sent out the wrong link! Thanks for letting us know