Rarest A-Z 10p coins revealed! 2019 Mintage Figures Update

Exciting news! The Royal Mint have revealed the latest mintage figures for 2019 coins!

Three 50p coins entered circulation in 2019 and collectors across the nation have been debating how rare each one might be.

What’s more, we were all eagerly awaiting the reveal of the mintage figures for the 2019 A-Z 10p coins.

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 A-Z 10p Coins!

Whilst each of the 2018 dated A-Z 10p coins had the same mintage of 220,000, this year the mintages are varied among the designs!

Collectors who have managed to find the 2019 dated Q, W, Y, Z, and R 10p coins will be delighted to see that these have a lower mintage than the other 21 designs from that year.

The 2019 World Wide Web, Yeoman Warders and Zebra Crossing 10p coins all have a mintage of JUST 63,000! When you compare that to the rarest 50p in circulation, the Kew Gardens 50p, which has a circulating mintage of 210,000, it puts into perspective just how rare these 10p coins are.

When you combine the 2018 and 2019 mintages for these coins, it confirms that a total of 283,000 of each design has entered circulation.

The other 10p coins to look out for are the Robin and Queuing 10p, with a 2019 mintage of 64,000 and 83,000 respectively.

Are you lucky enough to have these coins in your change? Let us know in the comments below!

50p Mintage Update

Sherlock and Paddington Join the Chart!

The Paddington Bear coins are some of the most popular 50ps in recent years and collectors have been waiting to find out just how rare they are.

It’s now been confirmed that 9,001,000 of each 2019 design (Paddington at the Tower and Paddington at St. Paul’s Cathedral) were issued into circulation.

Whilst these coins aren’t exactly rare, they are certainly a collector favourite, with children, parents, and 50p collectors alike all wanting to find all four coins from the series in their change. Have you got these coins in your collection? Let us know in the comments below!

The mintage figure for the 2019 Sherlock Holmes 50p has also been confirmed. 8,602,000 of these 50p coins, celebrating the 160th anniversary of the birth of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, were struck for circulation.

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.

2011 Olympic Football 50p. Mintage: 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 in 2019.

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.

2016 Britannia £2

It was recently confirmed that The Royal Mint has no plans to strike any £2 coins for circulation for the next 10 years, so unfortunately, there may not be any mintage updates for this denomination for a while.

No 1p or 2p coins entered circulation in 2018 either, perhaps suggesting it’s time we question what the future has in store for our beloved coppers.


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 this 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

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Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app

Design your own A-Z 10p!

It’s time to get creative as we challenge Junior Change Checkers to design their very own A-Z 10p!

In 2018, the surprise release of 26 commemorative 10p coins celebrating the A-Z of Great Britain caused quite the stir in the collecting world and have since kick started a nation wide coin hunt!

These sought-after coins have proved incredibly tricky to hunt down, but have certainly caught the imagination of the British public with their unique designs.

And so now we’re calling all our Change Checker Juniors to have a go at designing their very own A-Z 10p.

We’ll be turning the TOP 5 designs into virtual 10p coin animations, so stay tuned to see if your design is selected!

If you’d like to get involved, all you need to do is follow these simple steps:

1. Download this PDF and print it out.

2. Create your A-Z 10p design and fill in the details on the page. You can take inspiration from the UK 10ps listed on our web app!

3. Photograph your design.

4. Post a photo of your design in the comments on this Facebook post [link]

The TOP 5 designs will be brought to life in an animation and featured in a Change Checker video, which will be available to watch on the 13th June.

Entries close at 9am on Tuesday 9th June, so don’t delay!

Best of luck and happy designing!


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

Change Checker Web App Banner 2 Amends 1024x233 1 1024x233 - Your January 2019 Scarcity Index update!

Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app

2020 Scarcity Index Update!

We’re excited to reveal to you the very first Scarcity Index of 2020!

The updated 50p, A-Z 10p and £2 indexes below allow you 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 Scarcity Index

The previous Scarcity Index update saw some exciting changes to the 50p index, as we were able to include the 2018 50p coins following the release of their mintage figures.

This was great news for Change Checkers who have the 2018 Beatrix Potter 50ps in their collection, as both the Flopsy Bunny and Peter Rabbit 50ps have proved incredibly sought-after.

Despite both coins having the same mintage figure of 1,400,000, the Flopsy Bunny 50p is the most sought-after of the Beatrix Potter coins and is in fact the scarcest non-Olympic 50p coin in circulation, aside from of course the Kew Gardens 50p – the UK’s most sought-after circulation 50p.

Whilst both the Flopsy Bunny and 2018 Peter Rabbit 50ps have moved up the index one place since the last update, the other 2018 50ps haven’t fared quite so well, with the Mrs Tittlemouse and Paddington at the Station both moving down the index and the other 2018 50ps remaining unchanged.

The biggest mover on this latest Scarcity Index update goes to the Olympic Fencing 50p, which has moved up the index an incredible twelve places, following its five place drop on the previous update.

As we look forward to the Olympic Games which will be held in Tokyo later this year, perhaps we’ll see more of the Olympic 50ps increase in popularity by the next Scarcity Index update.

A-Z 10p Scarcity Index

We’re used to seeing quite a bit of movement on the A-Z 10p index as these particularly tricky-to-find coins are snapped up by collectors.

Interestingly, in this latest update only the top and bottom coins have remained unchanged, with B for Bond staying on top spot as the current scarcest A-Z 10p coin in circulation.

For many, this coin seems to be a firm favourite from the A-Z of Great Britain collection which was released in 2018, so it comes as no surprise that it has found its way to the top of the list.

P for Postbox is unfortunately bottom of the pile once again, although it’s worth remembering that all of these coins are considered sought-after and collectors fortunate enough to come across just one will be considering themselves lucky.

The biggest movers on the latest 10p index update are W for World Wide Web and S for Stonehenge, which have both moved up the index by 14 places.

S for Stonehenge actually dropped by 14 places in the previous index, so this could be the coin levelling back out again.

It will be interesting to see how the index changes as more collectors come across these coins and as we await the release of the 2019 mintage figures. We currently know that 220,000 of each design entered circulation in 2018 and a further 2.1 million coins overall were released in 2019, but exact figures for individual 2019 designs are currently unknown.

£2 Scarcity Index

Following the 2018 mintage figure reveal, we know that no £2 coins have entered circulation since 2016, so the £2 index continues to remain fairly stable with no new coins to add to the mix.

The top five coins are unchanged since the last index and it comes as no surprise that the Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland £2 remains on the top spot, as this £2 has a mintage figure of just 485,500 and is considered incredibly sought-after amongst collectors.

All three Olympic themed £2 coins (Olympic Handover, Olympic Centenary and London 2012 Handover) also remain very close to the top of the index and I wonder if the Tokyo Olympics this year will affect the scarcity of these already very popular coins.

The biggest mover on the £2 index is the Florence Nightingale coin, which has moved up by six places, whilst the 60th Anniversary of World War Two coin has moved down by five places to the third from bottom space.

As I’m sure you’ll agree, it would be fantastic to see some new £2 coins entering circulation and how they might affect the £2 Scarcity Index. Fingers crossed they’ll be enough demand for these coins to enter circulation soon!

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.


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

Change Checker Web App Banner 2 Amends 1024x233 1 1024x233 - Your January 2019 Scarcity Index update!

Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app