Posts Tagged ‘Annual Coin Set’
Vote for your favourite 2025 Annual Coin design
The 2025 Annual Coin Set was released on 2nd January 2025, and we asked for your help to decide which of the five brand new coins is the best design.

The results are in!
You’ve been voting for your favourite design from the 2025 Annual Set, and we can now reveal the results…

The Royal Greenwich Observatory £2 has been voted Change Checkers’ favourite design from the Annual Set, with a whopping 30.67% of the votes!
Interestingly, in both first and second place were £2 coins, so could we be about to see a resurgence in £2 coin collecting? Remember, no new commemorative £2 coins have entered circulation since 2016, and it looks like demand for new £2 coins is definitely on the rise!
Do you agree with the results? Let us know in the comments if your favourite didn’t make it to the top!
Secure the 2025 Annual Coin Set
Add the 2025 Annual Set to your collection for just £42 (+p&p) >>
Ring in the New Year with the 2025 Annual Coin Set!
Every year, the Annual Coin Set is one of the most eagerly anticipated releases, as it’s the first chance collectors have to secure some of the key coins from the year ahead. The 2025 Annual Set includes five brand new 2025 coins, celebrating the very best of British culture, iconic figures, institutions and events that have shaped the nation’s history.
So, let’s take a closer look at the coins in the 2025 Annual Coin Set…
A closer look at the 2025 Annual Coin Set
Red Arrows 50p
Speed. Agility. Precision…these are the hallmarks of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team—better known as the Red Arrows. And to mark 60 years since their first display in 1965, the Red Arrows are being celebrated on a UK 50p.
The iconic team has wowed audiences worldwide with their breath taking displays across 57 countries with nearly 5,000 shows, making them a global symbol of excellence. Now, their legacy is celebrated with this special UK 50p coin, featuring three sleek and distinctive Hawk T1 aircraft and their smoke trails.
This is the first time the Red Arrows have featured on a UK coin, and the design perfectly represents their inspiring and captivating displays which are loved by so many.
Stories of The Second World War 50p
The Second World War was a time when extraordinary courage and relentless effort came from all corners of the UK and the Commonwealth, forever shaping modern British society.
From the battlefields to the home front, everyone played a role in the war effort—each story, a testament to resilience and unity.
The Stories of the Second World War 50p honours their service, depicting the medals awarded to millions who contributed to the cause. The medals featured include the 1939-45 Star, Defence Medal and War Medal, representing the countless unique experiences of the Second World War.
Steam Passenger Train £2
On to the £2 coins, the first of which commemorates 200 years since the very first steam passenger train journey. On September 27, 1825, George Stephenson’s Locomotion No. 1 made history by carrying hundreds of passengers across 26 miles—from Shildon to Stockton—launching a journey that would shape the modern world.
Since Locomotion 1’s inaugural journey, rail travel has undergone huge technological and engineering advancements, transforming every aspect of life including tourism, trade, post and even football.
This £2 coin commemorates that ground breaking moment in 1825, with a design featuring Locomotion Number 1 in action, packed with excited passengers and the inscription ‘The Journey that changed the world’, along with the years 1825-2025.
Royal Greenwich Observatory £2
The second £2 coin in the Annual Set celebrates 350 years of the UK’s first purpose build scientific institution – the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
The observatory was commissioned in 1674 by Charles II and was intended as a beacon for timekeeping and sea navigation. It’s home to the historic Prime Meridian of the World, which divides the eastern and western hemispheres and gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time, the precursor to today’s Coordinated Universal Time.
The design on this £2 coin captures the Observatory’s rich legacy, featuring the Shepherd Gate Clock, the constellation Ursa Minor, the star Polaris and the meridian line in front of a globe. The coin also includes the edge inscription ‘PERFECTING THE ART OF NAVIGATION’, taken from the Observatory’s founding Royal Warrant.
Birth of the Queen Mother £5
The last coin we need to talk about will actually only be available as part of the 2025 Annual Coin Set, as it won’t be individually released, and that’s the Birth of the Queen Mother £5.
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was a symbol of national strength and resilience, especially during the trials of the Second World War, and across a remarkable life spanning more than a century, she steadfastly supported two British monarchs—her husband, King George VI, and her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
This exclusive £5 coin marks 125 years since the birth of Queen Elizabeth, with a design featuring a timeless portrait that celebrates her enduring legacy, along with her royal cypher, thistles and roses. And interestingly, the portrait has been taken from the design on the 1980 coin that marked her 80th birthday.
Last year, there was also one coin from the Annual Set that wasn’t individually issued, the Winston Churchill £2, however collectors didn’t know this right away, so we want to make sure you don’t miss this exclusive chance to own this coin by securing the 2025 Annual Coin Set.
So there you have the 2025 Annual Coin Set, a collection of five incredible coins from the year to come.
And whilst 4 of these coins will be individually released later in the year, the only way to get the Queen Mother £5 is by securing the 2025 Annual Set.
Secure the 2025 Annual Coin Set
Each coin has been struck to a superior Brilliant Uncirculated quality and is protectively encapsulated in official Change Checker packaging, housed in a display page ready to slot into your Change Checker Album.
To ensure you don’t miss out on adding all FIVE new coins to your collection for JUST £42 (+postage), click here >>
The 50p that’s guaranteed to float your boat – The RNLI 50p!
The 2024 UK RNLI 50p has dropped anchor and is ready to swim straight into your collection!
This coin was originally issued as part of the 2024 Annual Coin Set, and when we asked you to vote for your favourite design from the Annual Set, and the RNLI 50p won with a huge 50% of the votes!
So if you just cant wait, click here to secure your 2024 UK RNLI 50p for just £8.99 >>
Or, keep reading to find out a bit more…
History of the RNLI
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, better known as the RNLI, was founded by Sir William Hillary in 1824, and 2024 marks its 200th anniversary. From being the first organization to use steam-driven lifeboats in 1890, to providing crucial maritime support during the first and second world wars, to opening their training college in 2004 – the RNLI have been making history and saving lives at sea for 2 whole centuries.

Credit: Chris Downer, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Each year, coins marking key anniversaries and historical figures are chosen to feature in the Annual Set – and 2024 was no exception with coins celebrating the National Gallery, Sir Winston Churchill, the Paris Olympics and of course, the RNLI.
A ‘mast’erpiece designs
The reverse design incorporates key symbols of the RNLI, with the flag in the centre, surrounded by a life ring and rope. Inscribed on the life ring are the years of the charity 1824-2024 as well as ‘200 years’, marking that incredible milestone.
Did you know…
The iconic RNLI flag wasn’t introduced until 1908. The first version designed by Leonara Preston in 1884 who used the St George’s cross as the basis for the flag, adding the RNLI lettering, the Tudor Crown worn by King George VI and a foul anchor in the centre.

Credit: Sodacan, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Credit: Oast House Archive, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The design was updated in 1953 to represent the change of monarch to Queen Elizabeth II when the Tudor Crown was swapped for the St Edwards Crown. It’s this version of the flag that’s been proudly flown at all lifeboat stations since, but I wonder if they’ll change the design again for King Charles III?
Let us know what you think in the comments!
Supporting a great cause
As well as a design paying tribute to 200 years of the institution that has saved over 144,000 lives, The Royal Mint are donating 5% of every RNLI 50p sold to the charity*, allowing them to continue their great work.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen proceeds from a UK coin go to a worthy cause. Just last year, The Royal Mint donated 100% of the profits from the 2023 NHS 50p to NHS Charities Together, an organization that provides incredible support to NHS staff, patients and communities.
The 2023 UK NHS 50p commemorated 75 years of the National Health Service, and it’s estimated that the total donation figure reached £225,000 – an incredible way to celebrate three-quarters of a century of the great British organization.
So do you agree with 50% of collectors – is the RNLI 50p your favourite coin from the 2024 Annual Set? Perhaps you have a personal story involving the RNLI that you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments!
Secure your 2024 UK RNLI 50p
Secure yours 2024 UK RNLI 50p for just £8.99 >>
*The Royal Mint Limited will contribute 5% of the price excluding VAT in support of the RNLI. Payments are made to RNLI (Sales) Ltd (which pays all its taxable profits to the RNLI, a charity registered in England and Wales (209603),Scotland (SC037736), the Republic of Ireland (20003326), the Bailiwick of Jersey (14), the Isle of Man (1308 and 006329F) and the Bailiwick of Guernsey and Alderney.