Posts Tagged ‘2016’
To collect, or not to collect…the Shakespeare £2 coins!
The answer, of course, is to collect!
Seasoned collectors will know that the 2016 Shakespeare £2 coins are some of the most popular coins in circulation. This isn’t only because they celebrate the most influential literary figure in British history, but because of their intriguing designs and interesting mintage figures.
The Shakespeare £2 coins were issued in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of playwright, poet and actor, William Shakespeare. Each of the 3 coins honours a different genre of Shakespeare’s works – tragedies, comedies and histories.
Tragedies
The Shakespeare Tragedies £2 is inspired by Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies such as Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. The design, by John Bergdahl, features a skull from the iconic scene in Hamlet where the Prince speaks to the skull of dead court jester, Yorick, lamenting over the fragility of life and the inevitability of death. Next to the skull is a rose, representing Romeo and Juliet.
The edge inscription even reads ‘WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS A MAN’ – the start of a well know quote from Hamlet.
Histories
This coin pays tribute to Shakespeare’s historical plays. It carries the edge inscription ‘THE HOLLOW CROWN’ and features a crown and dagger design. The crown represents the seven different kings who were titular characters in Shakespeare’s historical plays, and the sword is a symbols of the battles and wars that took place in many of these stories.
Comedies
The Comedies £2 features a design of a cap and bells with a Jester’s stick, taking inspiration from Shakespeare’s most famous comedy play – A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
It features the edge inscription ‘ALL THE WORLDS A STAGE’, a quote from As You Like It.
Did you know?
When these coins first entered circulation back in 2016, they were stocked in the tills at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, where Hamlet was being performed at the time.
Mintage Figures
On entering circulation in 2016, mintage figures were released, revealing the Shakespeare Comedies £2 as the rarest of the 3 coins with only 4,355,000 entering circulation. Original figures released were as follows:
- Shakespeare Histories: 4,615,000
- Shakespeare Tragedies: 5,995,000
- Shakespeare Comedies: 4,355,000
However this would change 3 years later in 2019 when the mintages of the Histories £2 and the Tragedies £2 were corrected. Although the Comedies £2 remained the rarest of the 3, it turns out the mintage of the Tragedies £2 was lower than originally stated.
The corrected mintage figures for the 2016 Shakespeare £2 coins are as follows:
- Shakespeare Histories: 5,655,000
- Shakespeare Tragedies: 4,615,000
- Shakespeare Comedies: 4,355,000
As you can see from the £2 mintage figure chart below, both the Comedies and Tragedies are in the top 30 rarest coins in circulation (based solely on mintage figures).
Do you have any Shakespeare £2 coins in your collection? Let us know in the comments!
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
Which Beatrix Potter 50p Coins are the scarcest?
With Monday’s announcement of four new Beatrix Potter 50p coins leading to as many as 50,000 collectors queuing at The Royal Mint’s website to reserve the coins online, Change Checker can reveal which of last year’s 5 Beatrix Potter circulation 50p coins are currently the most sought after by collectors.
Using data unique collecting and swap data, Change Checker will be publishing its first-ever 50p “Scarcity Index” later this month but ahead of the full publication, we can give you a sneak preview as to which of last year’s Beatrix Potter 50p coins are currently most sought after by collectors.
How rare are the Beatrix Potter 50p coins?
Final mintages are yet to be published but the Change Checker “Scarcity Index” scores each of the UK’s 54 circulation 50p coin designs out of 100 to determine their relative scarcity.
Results suggest that Jemima Puddle-Duck is currently the 6th most difficult coin to find in your change, with Squirrel Nutkin coming in close behind. Peter Rabbit has certainly become easier over the last few months but still sits 20th out 54 issues.
How valuable are my Beatrix Potter 50p coins?
Currently you can still buy base metal collector versions of the Beatrix Potter 50p coins direct from the Royal Mint for £10 and Change Checker Certified Brilliant Uncirculated versions for £3.99, rather than wait to find them in your change. That has meant that their values have been pretty much capped.
But The Royal Mint has confirmed that they are not striking any more 2016 collector editions, which means that when current stocks of the Brilliant Uncirculated version are exhausted, collectors’ only choice will be to search for circulation versions.
So whilst the 2016 Beatrix Potter 50p coins are not likely to follow the example of the ultra-rare Kew Gardens 50p, which achieves prices of between £70 and £100, collectors may see prices rise from around 6 times face value to somewhere between 10 and 12 times face value over the coming months.
But don’t forget, the joy of Change Checking is that you may receive a Beatrix Potter 50p coin in your change at any time for just its face value – 50p.
Why the 2016 £1 coin is about to become the latest coin collecting myth
The Royal Mint have confirmed that more than half a billion of the new £1 coins that have been released into circulation will be dated 2016.
But you may have also seen in the news that if you find one with a 2016 date, it could be one of the handful of ‘uniquely flawed coins’ and may be worth £250.
Unfortunately that isn’t the case.
Coins are typically struck with dies with that year’s date on, and as 1.5 billion new coins were required for the launch of the new 12-sided £1 coin, The Royal Mint started striking them in March 2016. That means that all of the new 12-sided £1 coins that were produced last year will have the 2016 date on them.
Will the 2016 12-sided £1 coins be rare?
In short, no. With half a billion 2016 dated £1 coins in circulation, they should be relatively easy to get hold of. In fact, we are yet to see someone who has found a 2017 dated £1 in their change.
Over half a billion 2016 dated £1 coins have been released into circulation. So far the only 2017 dated £1 coins we have seen are the Brilliant Uncirculated collector versions.
If we take a look back to the mintage figures in 1983 when the £1 coin was first introduced, in total 443,053,510 of the Royal Arms £1 coin were struck for circulation that year. That’s a little less than the amount of 2016 dated £1 coins and nearly 3 times less than the total amount of of the new coins struck for launch.
Considering 1983 was a time without contactless payments and when cash was the most used method of payment, 443,053,510 seems a relatively small amount in comparison to the 1.5 billion required for the new 12-sided £1 coin launch.
1997 Maklouf ‘Queen with a Necklace’ £2
The Maklouf ‘Necklace’ £2 was only issued in 1997
You may remember the collecting frenzy that the ‘Queen with a Necklace’ £2 coin caused in 1998 when the brand new bi-metallic coin was introduced into circulation.
The ‘Queen with a Necklace’ £2 has an enduring legacy in the collecting world as the very first bi-metallic £2 coins issued just prior to the Queen’s portrait change in 1998. This meant that the older portrait by Raphael Maklouf was only used for one year: 1997. His version featured Queen Elizabeth II wearing a necklace, which is how the nickname was derived.
When the portrait change was announced, the new £2 coins were snapped up by collectors believing them to be a future rarity. As it turned out, a mintage of nearly 14 million means the ‘Queen with a Necklace’ £2 is not one of the rarest coins in circulation. Nevertheless, with only one year of issue, it still holds an undeniable interest for collectors.
An undeniable interest for collectors.
And the same can be said for the 2016 dated £1 coin. Although the £1 is in no way a rarity, first year of issue coins are always more sought after in years to come. As the new coin is Britain’s first 12-sided £1 and it is the first specification change to our £1 coin in more than 3 decades, the new 2016 dated £1 should hold a significant place in any coin collection.
#foundapound
To celebrate the release of the new 12-sided £1 coin, we’re giving away FIVE ‘Nations of the Crown’ Silver Proof 12-Sided £1 Coins!
For your chance to WIN a Silver Proof £1, all you need to do is find one of the new 12-sided £1 coins in your change…
Post a photo via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #foundapound and the location you found your first £1 coin.
We’ll then choose 5 winners at random on the 10th April.
It’s really that easy – so good luck and get posting! #foundapound