Posts by Change Checker
FIRST EVER King Charles stamps! When and where you can find them…
The FIRST EVER King Charles III stamps have been revealed!
And, eagle eyed collectors will spot Martin Jenning’s portrait of His Majesty appears on the design.
You can pre-order these stamps for your collection by clicking here, ahead of their general release 4th April.
However, tracking these stamps down in the wild will be a little trickier than finding the King Charles 50p in our change…
That’s because of King Charles III’s dedication to climate action and sustainability.
The brand-new stamps will coexist alongside the current Queen Elizabeth II ones and will also feature the new barcode design.
As the current stock of Queen Elizabeth II stamps becomes exhausted, we’ll start to see more of the new King Charles ones issued until eventually they all feature the King.
But what does that mean for collectors?
Well, next time you head to your local shop or supermarket to get a new book of stamps, you won’t know which monarch will appear on them.
So, not only does this increase the thrill of the hunt, but it’s also a fair opportunity for people to find these new stamps. You won’t be able to tell which stamps you have until your book is open.
These stamps will be issued from the 4th of April, so the countdown really has begun!
This release is going to be one for the history books.
Collectors will already be aware of the popularity of the first King Charles III 50p issued last year and that’s already off-sale at the Royal Mint in ALL specifications!
So here’s hoping you can get your hands on a brand new stamp when they’re available.
But, if you don’t want to risk missing out, then you can pre-order these stamps for your collection below!
Pre-order the first King Charles III stamps
You can get ahead of the crowds and pre-order the first King Charles III stamps for your collection today by clicking here.
Perfectly presented on official Change Checker Stamp Cards, you will be able to treasure this philatelic first for generations to come.
New UK £2 coin celebrates the world’s most famous locomotive – Flying Scotsman
A brand new UK £2 coin has been issued celebrating the world’s most famous locomotive – Flying Scotsman.
To commemorate its centenary year, The Royal Mint featured a design of Flying Scotsman in motion on the reverse of the £2, by John Bergdahl.
This coin was issued in the 2023 Commemorative Coin Set. But, this is the first time collectors have been able to get their hands on the individual coin!
Flying Scotsman £2 celebrates poignant anniversary
If you’re lucky enough to have ever travelled on the famous locomotive, you’ll know just how impressive its engineering is – a true symbol of Britain’s great age of steam.
Built in 1923 at Doncaster Works, Flying Scotsman was the first locomotive of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).
Credit: Frances Lyon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
It joined Sir Nigel Gresley as part of the A1 class – the most powerful locomotives used by the LNER at that time.
It coined its name after the daily 10.00 London to Edinburgh rail service which started in 1862.
The British Empire Exhibition made Flying Scotsman famous when it first appeared in 1924.
Record-breaking steam power
1934 saw Flying Scotsman clock 100pm on a special test run, officially making it the first locomotive in the UK to reach that speed.
This was crucial in the negation of LNER’s directors plans to use diesel power on its high-speed services – proving steam power was just as punchy!
After a restoration project in 2006, Flying Scotsman broke yet another record. It returned as a working museum exhibit making it the oldest mainline working locomotive on Britain’s tracks.
Source: Barry Lewis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Flying Scotsman is certainly the world’s most famous locomotive. Despite being retired from regular transportation duties, it still attracts hundreds of thousands of fans at every location it visits.
Have you ever seen Flying Scotsman in action? Let us know in the comments below.
Popular Train and Locomotive Coin Issues
The brand new Flying Scotsman £2 follows in some very big footsteps.
2013 London Underground Roundel £2
In 2013, The Royal Mint marked 100 years of the London Underground with two £2 coins.
This was the first to be issued and features the iconic Underground roundel, designed by Edwina Ellis.
The Tube has 11 lines covering 402 km and serving 272 stations, handling up to five million passenger journeys a day.
2013 London Underground Train £2
The second coin in The Royal Mint’s London Underground series shows a design of the iconic Tube, appearing through a tunnel.
The inscription reads ‘1863 – London Underground – 2013’.
Just 1,690,000 of these £2 coins entered circulation, making it somewhat tricky to get your hands on.
2004 Steam Locomotive £2
This £2 coin was issued to commemorate the 200th anniversary since the development of Richard Trevithick’s ‘Pennydarren‘ – the first steam engine locomotive.
The Pennydarren started the growth of railway transportation in the 19th century.
It travelled from Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales to Abercynon on its first journey in 1804, carrying 10 tons of iron, 5 wagons and 70 people on the 9 mile trip.
Celebrate Flying Scotsman’s 100 years of history with this brand new UK £2
Get your hands on the brand new 2023 UK Flying Scotsman for JUST £9.50 (+p&p) by clicking here >>
The coins with THREE different dates on them…
Have you heard about the coins with THREE different dates?
- It was approved by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022
- It was re-approved by King Charles III in 2023
- It features ‘1922’ as a date on the obverse
And if these circumstances weren’t unusual enough, the coins releases also missed the 100th anniversary they were commemorating.
These three dates can be seen on the brand new Tutankhamun 50p coins. If you can’t wait to add them to your own collection, click here >>
Otherwise, continue reading to discover how this happened and why the coins are set to become the most collectable coins in years…
How do the coins have three dates?
In 1922, Howard Carter uncovered a step in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt.
That step ended up being the start of a staircase that led to a tomb – the tomb of Tutankhamun.
To mark the anniversary of the incredible discovery, a brand new set of 50p coins were authorised in 2022 by the Isle of Man.
These 50ps then went to Buckingham Palace for approval.
The Queen approved the coins, but that ended up being one of her last official acts before her sad passing on 8 September 2022.
Her death put all new coins on hold.
Mints around the world halted production to observe the mourning period and await palace instructions.
When this came, the Isle of Man was instructed to re-submit an application to the Palace, this time for the approval of His Majesty King Charles III.
The problem? This was late in 2022. Would the Isle of Man get approval from the King before the year of the anniversary passed?
In short, no.
Palace approval came through in January 2023.
The coins features the same reverse, showing 1922 and 2022 commemorating the centenary anniversary.
But the obverse – now featuring the first British Isles King Charles III portrait – carries the year 2023.
So that’s how the coins came to have three dates on it. But what does this mean for it’s collectability?
The power of strange…
Quirks like this are very few and far between… In fact, i’ve never heard of a coin like these.
The closest example came about due to the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
When the Olympic Games were postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the pandemic, it led to a design quirk that created a collecting frenzy for a particular 50p.
Issued in the 2020 Annual Coin Set, the Team GB 50p was issued to mark our athletes participation in the upcoming Tokyo Games.
So, when the games were postponed, so was this coin’s individual issue.
Eventually issued in 2021, this 50p become one of just a handful of coins to feature a dual-date – 2020 on the reverse and 2021 on the obverse.
The coin sold out in a flash.
So considering the popularity of the dual-dated Team GB 50p, you can understand why coins with THREE dates, such as the Tutankhamun 50ps, are a must-have.
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