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Rarest 50ps Revealed! 2018 Mintage Figure Update
Exciting news! The Royal Mint have revealed the latest mintage figures for 2018 coins!
Seven 50p coins entered circulation in 2018 and collectors across the nation have been debating how rare each one might be.
But now the official figures have been revealed and it looks like there are some particularly rare ones we should be looking out for…
The rarest Beatrix Potter 50ps
Collectors who have held on to their 2018 Beatrix Potter 50ps will be delighted to see that these coins have lower mintages than any of the previous Beatrix Potter coins issued in 2016 and 2017.
In fact, three out of the four Beatrix Potter 50ps released in 2018 are even rarer than the 2016 Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p – previously thought of as the rarest Beatrix Potter 50p in circulation!
With a mintage of just 1,400,000 the 2018 Peter Rabbit and 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50ps are sure to become incredibly sought-after amongst collectors, as they take joint second spot on our mintage figure chart (which excludes Olympic 50ps).
These two coins, alongside the 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse (mintage: 1,700,000) have pushed the 2017 Sir Isaac Newton (mintage: 1,801,500) off the podium.
Whilst the 2018 Tailor of Gloucester has a slightly higher mintage at 3,900,000 the other three coins in the 2018 series have only been pipped to the post by the UK’s rarest 50p in circulation, the Kew Gardens.
With a mintage of 210,000 this 50p is considered the holy grail of change collecting and dominates the Change Checker mintage figure charts and Scarcity Index.
What about the Olympic 50ps?
In 2012, the release of the Olympic 50p series kick started a collecting frenzy across the nation.
It’s estimated that around 75% of these coins have been removed from circulation by collectors which means they are incredibly sought-after, especially considering these 50ps have some of the lowest mintage figures in circulation…
Many of the Olympic 50ps have a mintage less than 2,000,000 with the rarest (the Olympic Football 50p) having a mintage of just 1,125,500.
Taking these rare 50ps into consideration, the 2018 Peter Rabbit and Flopsy Bunny coins would sit in joint sixth position, below the Kew Gardens, Football, Wrestling, Judo and Triathlon 50ps.
£2 Coin Update
As well as updating the 50p mintage figures, The Royal Mint also revealed that no £2 coins were issued into circulation last year.
There have been no new £2 coins issued into circulation since 2016, which may in part be due to the introduction of the new 12-sided £1 coin in 2017.
The new definitive £2 was released in 2015, replacing the Technology £2 with a Britannia design, but for the past two years it seems there has not been enough demand to issue this coin for circulation.
In fact, aside from the £1 coin, no new definitive coins were released at all last year, from the 1p to the £2 coin.
A-Z 10p update
Despite no definitive 10p coins entering circulation in 2018, The Royal Mint have confirmed mintage figures for the highly popular A-Z of Great Britain 10p coins.
From Angel of the North to Zebra Crossing, 26 new 10p designs were released in 2018 to celebrate what makes Britain British.
Initially, 2.6 million of these coins were released, followed by another 2.6 million later in the year.
However, up until now the individual mintages for each design had not been confirmed.
The mintage figure update now reveals that 220,000 of each design entered circulation in 2018, which makes the individual 2018 10p coins almost as rare as the Kew Gardens 50p…
Have you been lucky enough to find any of these coins in your change? It’s always exciting when new mintage figures are revealed and your realise just how rare the change in your pocket really is!
We’ll be updating the Change Checker Scarcity Index next month and it will be exciting to see how these new figures impact the index.
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app
Could there be a Mahatma Gandhi coin coming soon?
*2020 Update*
It has been confirmed that the first figure to be considered in a new series of UK coins that will recognise and celebrate BAME figures on UK currency will be Mahatma Gandhi.
This news comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak stated he was considering proposals from a campaign group. He has since asked the Royal Mint to come up with new designs honouring BAME figures who have served the nation – such as military figures and nurses.
A ‘Banknotes of Colour’ campaign is currently being led by former Conservative parliamentary candidate, Zehra Zaidi in efforts to see the better representation of non-white peoples on British currency.
Sajid Javid, Chancellor of the Exchequer has “asked the team at the Royal Mint to bring forward proposals for a new, commemorative coin of Gandhi.”
The news was revealed last week at the annual GG2 Leadership Awards event, which fell on the 150th birthday of Gandhi – a very fitting time for the announcement to be made.
Credit: Elliott & Fry , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Gandhi is most well known for leading the successful campaign for India’s independence, using nonviolent resistance which inspired human rights movements across the world.
However, he also has strong ties with London, having attended the University College of London law school in 1888.
Despite leaving for India after being called to the bar in 1891, he continued to return to London, right up until his final visit in 1931 where he attended a conference on the future of India.
If a coin were to be created to honour Gandhi, perhaps it would be issued in 2021 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of this final visit.
Credit: http://rena.wao.com/gandhi/jpg/MG26.jpg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Chancellor Sajid Javid said that “We must always remember the values he [Gandhi] lived his life by… Gandhi taught us that power doesn’t just come from wealth or high office.”
What do you think the design should be if a new coin were to be issued to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi? Let us know in the comments below!
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app
The new £20 note revealed!
The new design for the polymer £20 note has been officially revealed by the Bank of England and we can’t wait to start seeing it in our change next year!
The new £20 is coming on 20 February 2020.
— Bank of England (@bankofengland) October 10, 2019
Find out more: https://t.co/A23vZuf7Kg#TheNew20 pic.twitter.com/Lqyi0K2k4z
The design features JMW Turner, who was selected from the 29,701 nominations submitted by the public, making him the first British artist to feature on a UK banknote.
But what makes the new £20 note even more special is that is has been described by the Bank of England as the most secure note yet, with two windows and a two-colour foil which makes it difficult to counterfeit.
There are over 2 billion £20 notes in circulation, which makes the £20 note Britain’s most used (and also most forged) banknote.
Britain’s most secure banknote
Special features make the new polymer £20 note more secure, harder to forge and help it to stand out from other notes in circulation:
- Hologram – the word changes between ‘Twenty’ and ‘Pounds’ when tilted
- See-through windows – the foil on the front is blue and gold and the foil on the back is silver. There is also a second, smaller window in the bottom corner
- Raised dots – there are clusters of raised dots in the top left corner to help visually impaired people identify the note
- Ultra-violet number – under ultra-violet light the number ’20’ appears in red and green
- Purple foil patch – a round purple foil patch contains the letter ‘T’
- Historical character – JMW Turner’s self-portrait circa 1799 can also be seen on display in the Tate Britain
- Quote – “Light therefore is colour”
- The Queen’s portrait – printed on the back with “£20 Bank of England” printed twice around the edge
The Design
The bank note will feature Turner’s 1799 self-portrait – an image that currently hangs in the Tate Modern.
In addition, the note also features one of his most recognisable works, The Fighting Temeraire – a tribute to the ship which played a big part in Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
A final touch of Turner, the note also includes a quote from the artist, ‘light is therefore colour’ and the signature taken from his will.
Excitingly for collectors though, the new £20 note will be the first to feature the signature of Sarah John – the Bank’s new cashier. So keep an eye out for this when you get your first polymer £20 note!
When can we expect to start seeing the polymer £20 note?
The new £20 note is due to enter circulation on 20 February 2020.
Initially the note will be in circulation alongside the existing paper £20 notes, which will eventually be phased out as we have seen with the paper £5 and £10 notes in the past years.
We are also expecting the new £50 polymer bank note featuring mathematician and second world war codebreaker Alan Turing in 2021.
So, how excited are you about the new £20 polymer note? Let us know in the comments below!
f you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app