Posts Tagged ‘20p’
Can you complete the shield!?
It’s been 16 years since Matthew Dent redesigned the UK’s definitive coins to create the Royal Shield of Arms design, and we now have the New UK Coinage for King Charles III which will replace these designs.
So it’s hard to believe there are still some people who don’t actually realise that these coins can be pieced together to complete the shield!
Time for change
In 2005, it was decided that our definitive UK coinage was due an overhaul, and The Royal Mint ran a competition for members of the public to design the new coins. Out of 4,000 designs that were submitted, The Royal Mint Advisory Committee selected Matthew Dent’s Royal Shield designs as the winner in 2008.
Speaking about his designs, Dent said “I felt that the solution to The Royal Mint’s brief lay in a united design, united in terms of theme, execution and coverage over the surface of the coins.”
Using all the coins from the 1p to the 50p and fitting them together like a jig-saw, the complete shield is revealed – as seen on the £1 coin design issued from 2008 until 2015.
Of course, the old round pound was replaced by the 12 sided Nations of the Crown £1 in 2017 and have now been withdrawn from circulation. However, the definitive 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p shield coins can still be found in your change, meaning the Royal Shield can still be collected and completed.
In fact, I bet if you were to check the change in your pocket right now, you’d be surprised by how much of the shield you’ll already be able to piece together!
Complete the Shield
So, why not try collecting the Royal Shield coins and see if you can complete the shield? And, if you’d like to give yourself even more of a challenge, how about collecting the whole shield for each year, starting with the coins issued in 2008!
To help you on your collecting journey, you can secure your own Royal Shield Collector Pack, which includes the Royal Shield 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 20p – all you have to do is find the 50p in your change to complete the shield.
Secure your Royal Shield Collector Pack for JUST £4.99 (+p&p) >>
How much is my coin worth? January 2021 eBay Tracker Update!
Good news Change Checkers – your latest eBay Tracker and Valuation Index is here!
Whilst the secondary market can be a bit of a minefield, we’ve put together an easy way for you to see how much the Top 10 UK coins and banknotes are selling for right now.
eBay Tracker
Find out which coins and notes have been the key movers and shakers in the updated eBay Tracker below.
We’ve seen a huge jump in price for the Undated 20p, increasing by a huge £9! This coin dropped in value in the last eBay Tracker so it’s interesting to see it climb to £50 this month.
This coin is regarded by many as the Holy Grail of change collecting, and back in 2008, the undated 20p saga encouraged an entire country to start carefully checking their coins.
This mule coin came about when the new Royal Shield 20p coins were struck for circulation, with no date on the reverse. The old die was accidentally used, meaning a batch was issued with no date on either side of the coin.
The undated 20p became the first coin in over 300 years to enter circulation without a date and it’s estimated by The Royal Mint that no more than 250,000 coins made it into circulation.
So, there’s no surprises people are prepared to pay a pretty penny on the secondary market to secure one for their collection!
There’s also been an increase in the sold prices of the 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p, jumping up by £6.00.
As the 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p is a strike your own version, this indicates that collectors are likely heading to secondary markets to get hold of these types of coins, as The Royal Mint Experience remains closed.
With less cash also being used in the past few months because of the current climate, it’s clear this has influenced collector behaviour on the secondary markets too, as people are unable to exchange coins in the same ways they were previously. This therefore drives the price up, as demand for the coin increases.
Additionally, with more time being spent at home and people seeking new hobbies to keep themselves entertained, new collectors are perhaps becoming more aware of rare and collectable coins that might be worth owning and as a result, are heading to the secondary market to get hold of one.
But will we continue to see the price of this coin rise on the secondary market as we head back to a new kind of ‘normal’? Only time will tell and we’ll have to wait for the next eBay Tracker update to find out!
As collectors are unable to source coins in the usual ways due to the current climate, it’s interesting that we’ve seen some big changes this month, as people head to secondary markets to secure coins for their collection.
Valuation Index
Overall, there’s been a 1.3 point increase value for the Top 10 UK coins and banknotes since June’s update and this is no doubt due to the increase in price for 7 of the coins in the tracker.
After an impressive spike in our last update, we’ve seen another increase in January – taking it to the highest we’ve seen since the Tracker started!
My coin isn’t on the eBay Tracker
The eBay Tracker follows the movements of the Top 10 UK coins and banknotes, however if your coin doesn’t appear on the tracker you can use our 6 point guide to help determine realistic a value for your coin.
So now that you’re up to date with our latest eBay Tracker, will you be selling any of the coins in your collection or will you continue to save them? Let us know in the comments below.
How does the eBay Tracker work?
The Change Checker eBay Tracker takes the last 9 sold prices achieved on eBay and gives the median price achieved (rounded to the nearest 50p). By taking the median, rather than an average, we avoid skewing created by one or two excessive prices achieved.
Please note that the Change Checker eBay Tracker is only ever designed to be a guide as to prices achieved on eBay. Prices may vary depending on collector demand and the quality of the coin being sold. It does not provide any guarantee as to future values of coins.
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
Why you won’t find any 2017 20p coins in your change…
For those of you collecting date runs, you might have noticed that in 2017 The Royal Mint didn’t strike a single £2 or 20p coin for general circulation.
In 2016, nearly 29 million £2 coins and almost 213 million 20p coins were struck for circulation, however the next year that number dropped to 0.
From the graph above, you’ll notice that whilst most denominations had relatively few coins struck in 2017 compared to 2016, the mintage figure for £1 coins for both years is comparatively very high.
Introduction of the new £1
It’s thought that the introduction of the new 12 sided £1 coin to replace the old round pound in 2017 affected the demand for the other coins in circulation.
This could be down to the fact that the public were emptying their piggy banks and checking their loose change to make sure their old pound coins were used up before shops stopped accepting them. In doing so, they also ended up spending other coins in their change, meaning there was plenty of cash to re-circulate, and not as much demand for new coins to be struck for circulation.
This coupled with the growth of card payments and the decline of cash transactions, as well as the impressive 25-30 year lifespan of UK coins meant that enough £2 and 20p coins could be re-circulated in 2017 and new coins weren’t needed.
The Royal Mint had been expecting this drop in demand, as had been seen in similar cases overseas when coins were withdrawn.
Where does demand for cash come from?
The Royal Mint does not actually have any real control over how and when coins go into circulation, as this is based on demand.
HM Treasury and the large cash distribution services run by the Post Office and some banks, as well as private operators handle, sort and distribute the billions of coins in circulation, even swapping stocks between themselves.
The Royal Mint and cash distribution services regularly review the amount of coins in circulation and it’s only when they are short of a particular denomination that stocks will be called from The Royal Mint, who act as the manufacturer of the coin on behalf of the Treasury.
Surplus coins will be re-circulated before new coins are released.
Rare 50p coins from 2017
Whilst more 50p coins were struck in 2017 than 2016, two 2017 designs in particular actually have some of the lowest mintage figures of any 50p coins in circulation, excluding the Olympic 50p series.
The 2017 Royal Shield actually comes in as the second rarest 50p in circulation, closely followed by the 2017 Sir Isaac Newton 50p.
Take a look at our 50p and £2 mintage charts here.
Where can I find the 2017 £2 and 20p coins?
Whilst no £2 or 20p coins were issued for circulation in 2017, brilliant uncirculated commemorative coins were still issued, including the Jane Austen and First World War Aviation £2 coins.
These coins, along with the 2017 Britannia £2 and the 2017 20p which weren’t issued for circulation were also featured in brilliant uncirculated quality within the 2017 Annual Coin Set, which has now sold out at The Royal Mint.
This means that the only way to get hold of these coins is to purchase the set on the secondary market, with prices typically around £65, although some sets have sold for over £100.
So far the 2018 £2 coins haven’t been released into circulation and whilst the 2019 Royal Shield 50p has been seen in circulation, we’re yet to hear if any of the other 2019 coins will turn up in our change.
Do you think the move towards a cashless society could be on the horizon, or are we still recovering from the surplus cash flow in 2017? Let us know in the comments below!
Secure the commemorative coins from 2017 for your collection!
Today you can own all 4 of the United Kingdom’s commemorative coins from 2017 with the Change Checker Commemorative Coin Pack, including the rare Sir Isaac Newton 50p and the Jane Austen and First World War Aviation £2 coins that can’t be found in circulation.