New 50p entrants and other BIG movers! Your Scarcity Index Update…

It’s time for your latest Scarcity Index update, where we reveal the UK’s most sought-after circulation coins of the last three months! As we continue to go out and spend more cash, we’ve seen some BIG movers and shakers on our Scarcity Index.

There’s been some HUGE shakeups on our A-Z 10p Index, as well as two new additions to our 50p Index.

You can use the updated A-Z 10p, 50p and £2 indexes below 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.

A-Z 10p Scarcity Index

In the biggest shake up we’ve ever seen on our Scarcity Indexes, the Lochness Monster 10p has climbed an incredible 17 places! Having also been bumped down the A-Z 10p Index by 17 places, the Mackintosh 10p is now in our bottom 4!

Our top two coins have also switched positions, with the Robin 10p now holding top spot. Only 64,000 of these coins entered circulation in 2019, so combined with its 2018 mintage of just 220,000 it makes it is the 4th rarest A-Z 10p coin!

Regardless of where they feature in the above index, if you have any of the A-Z 10ps in your collection you should consider yourself very lucky. A maximum of only 304,000 of each design entered circulation!

Find out which A-Z 10p coins have the lowest mintages here >>

Other key movers include the Jubilee 10p and Stonehenge 10p, having both climbed 14 places – these are definitely the ones to watch!

50p Scarcity Index

Earlier this year we received the updated figures for 2020 circulation coins, including the UK Withdrawal from European Union (Brexit) 50p and the Diversity Built Britain 50p.

This updates sees the two 2020 50p coins make their entrance towards the bottom of our 50p Scarcity Index. The rarest of the trio to be released is the Withdrawal from the EU 50p, commonly known as the Brexit 50p, with a circulating mintage of 10,001,000. This is closely followed by the Diversity Built Britain 50p with a mintage of 10,300,000.

These numbers are fairly high for commemorative coins, meaning collectors stand a good chance of finding these ones in their change!

The Olympic Rowing and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle 50p coins have both climbed 10 places each, shifting them further up our 50p Index and making them even more sought-after. This Scarcity Index Update also sees the Olympic Sailing and Gymnastics 50ps dropping 10 and 12 places respectfully.

With lots of big movers and shakers on our 50p Index, it’s a reminder to keep checking your change as you never know what treasure you’ll discover…

£2 Scarcity Index

Sadly, with no £2 coins having entered circulation since 2017, there’s no surprises there’s not a huge amount of movement on our £2 Index.

However, we’ve seen the Commonwealth Games Wales £2 be bumped down the index by a further four places, after dropping by 3 in the last update too! This has created quite some distance between this coin and the other three Commonwealth Games £2 coins

We’ve also seen the Shakespeare Histories £2 coin climb by an impressive nine places, with the Brunel Paddington Station dropping seven.

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.

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How much is your A-Z 10p worth now? August 2021 update!

The A-Z of Great Britain 10p coins have been a firm favourite with collectors since they were first released in 2018, with 26 Quintessentially British designs capturing the public’s imagination.

Unsurprisingly, some designs are proving more popular than others, but which ones are likely to fetch the most on the secondary market?

We’ve done the hard work for you by taking a look at which A-Z 10p coins are selling for the most on eBay and which ones you should be looking out for.

The ones to watch…

If you’re lucky enough to have the ‘R’ for Robin 10p in your collection, you might want to keep hold of it, as it currently sells for around £6.99 on the secondary market – which is a pretty hefty return on its face value!

Equally, the B for Bond 10p, which has proven time and time again to be popular with collectors, is currently selling for around £6.25 on the secondary market sites.

These are some really big prices to pay for these A-Z 10p coins and it’s certainly higher than we’d expect to see!

We would always suggest caution and user discretion when buying and selling on eBay. Remember you can always use our 5 eBay Buying Tips which are on our blog, to make sure you get the most out of your money.

Dipping slightly in price, we see the L for Lochness Monster 10p selling for around £4.20 on eBay and the N for NHS fetching a similar price too.

How many A-Z 10p coins are out there?

In 2018, it was confirmed that 220,000 of each design were issued for circulation, but it wasn’t until 2021 that we saw the 2019 mintage figures confirmed.

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.

Interestingly, the Robin 10p, which currently has the highest median sold price out of all of the A-Z 10p coins, has a combined 2018 and 2019 mintage of just 284,000, compared to 304,000 for the majority of the other coins!

These coins are notoriously tricky to find, but have you been lucky enough to come across any in your change? Let us know in the comments below.

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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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