Posts Tagged ‘D Day’
Change Checker LIVE D-Day 50p Swap! Join us at the Royal International Air Tattoo
We’re extremely excited to announce that we’re bringing our Change Checker Live 50p Swap to the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT)!
Join us at the Royal International Air Tattoo from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st July where we’ll be giving collectors the chance to swap ANY UK 50p coin for the brand new 2024 UK D-Day 50p.
PLUS – there’ll be 1 silver 50p up for grabs each day!
Silver 50p Giveaway Hour
Each day, swappers will have the chance to get their hands on a Silver Proof 2024 D-Day 50p during our Silver Giveaway hour.
For an hour each day only, there’ll be 1 D-Day 50p with a special sticker in the lucky dip box, and whoever picks it out will get not only the 2024 UK D-Day 50p in Brilliant Uncirculated quality for just 50p, but they’ll also get a Silver Proof 2024 D-Day 50p FOR FREE!
Keep an eye on our social channels to find out when the Silver Giveaway Hour will be each day we’re at the show and make sure you’re in the queue ready for your chance to win a silver 50p!*
The Royal International Air Tattoo
Known as the world’s largest military air show, the Royal International Air Tattoo takes place at RAF Fairford, where thrilling sights and sounds of several hundred aircraft, from all eras and countries of the world, gather for this unique adrenalin-fuelled occasion.
We were lucky enough to attend the show last year where we were swapping the 2023 Coronation 50p, and we can’t wait to return!
We’ll be swapping 50ps with collectors across all three days, so be sure to come and say hello!
FAQs
How do I buy tickets to the event?
Tickets for the Friday and Saturday are sold out, but you can still buy tickets for Sunday 21st here >>
How do I get there?
Visitor travel details can be found on the Royal International Air Tattoo website here >>
Where can I find you at the event?
You can find us in the shopping village, between red flag markers 26 and 30.
How many coins can I swap?
Such is the popularity of our Live Coin Swaps, and to ensure it’s fair for everybody, we’re limiting the number of swaps to strictly 1 per person.
Can I reserve a coin before I arrive?
To ensure a fair swap event for everyone, we do not offer reservations of coins. It is a strictly first come first served basis.
How does the Silver 50p Giveaway work?
Anyone is eligible to swap any UK 50p for the 2024 UK D-Day 50p in Brilliant Uncirculated quality at any time in the 3 days we’ll be at the show, but you can choose to save your swap for the Silver Giveaway Hour (which will be announced on our social channels each day) for your chance to win the D-Day 50p in Silver Proof quality!
Can’t make it?
If you can’t make it to our swap at RIAT, don’t worry! You can still add the 2024 UK D-Day 50p to your collection in superior collection quality.
Secure your 2024 UK D-Day 50p for just £5.99 (+p&p) >>
*Details of the Silver 50p Giveaway may be subject to change.
UK 50p commemorates the 80th Anniversary of D-Day
2024 marks 80 years since the day that turned the tide of the Second World War, and in commemoration, a UK 50p has been released to honour the D-Day landings.
Add the 2024 UK Day-Day 50p to your collection >>
A momentous day
On 6th June 1944, 156,000 Allied troops arrived in Normandy by land, sea and air to launch their assault on Nazi-occupied France. Codenamed Operation Neptune but commonly referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history.
Image Credit: SHAEF [Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces] Public Relations Division., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
With this year marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day, these events will soon move beyond living memory, so it’s now more important than ever to commemorate this incredibly poignant day in history.
“We shall fight on the beaches”
The design of the 2024 D-Day 50p, created by renowned sculptor David Lawrence in collaboration with Imperial War Museums, depicts brave Allied troops risking their lives on that fateful day. In the foreground, soldiers disembark a landing craft onto the beaches whilst planes fly overhead approaching by air.
The landings took place at five assault beaches along a 50 mile stretch of the Normandy coast, they were given the codenames Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword – all of which are inscribed along the bottom of the design.
Recreated in sand
To celebrate the unveiling of the 2024 UK D-Day 50p, the coin’s design was recreated in the sand on Gold beach in Normandy. The sand art measured 35 metres across and took more than 5 hours to create!
Image credit: The Royal Mint
French sand artist Jehan-Benjamin Tarain worked with fellow artist Sam Dougados to create the piece. Tarain said that is was ‘extremely special’ to be part of a project that “plays an important reminder of the united allied effort between French and British forces 80 years ago”.
Previous UK D-Day coins
This isn’t the first time that D-Day has been commemorated on a UK coin…
Most recently, the 2019 D-Day £2 coin was issued to mark 75 years since the landings. It featured a design by renowned Royal Mint engraver, Stephen Taylor, showing 5 arrows, each pointing across the English Channel to one of the Normandy beaches. Although this coin didn’t enter circulation, it was extremely popular with collectors.
A £2 coin that did enter circulation is the 2005 60th Anniversary of the end of World War Two £2, which was issued to mark 60 years since Winston Churchill announced VE Day – marking the end of World War Two. The reverse design features a depiction of St Paul’s Cathedral which survived the Blitz to become a great symbol of hope to a war-torn nation. The edge inscription reads – IN VICTORY: MAGNANIMITY, IN PEACE: GOODWILL – part of the famous maxim that prefaces Churchill’s history of the Second World War.
The 1994 D-Day 50p was issued to mark the 50th anniversary of the Normandy Landings. This coin was originally issued in the larger 50p specification, meaning you’re no longer able to find it in your change. It was later re-issued in 2019 in the smaller 50p specification, however this version didn’t enter circulation.
Interestingly, the 1994 D-Day 50p was voted the all time favourite 50p coin by Change Checkers, so I’m sure the 2024 D-Day 50p will prove just as popular with collectors.
Secure the 2024 UK D-Day 50p
As this will likely be the last milestone anniversary of D-Day to be observed by those who served, it’s hugely important to commemorate this moment in history.
Add the 2024 UK D-Day 50p to your collection for just £5.99 (+p&p) >>
The UK Coins that tell the story of Britain’s Warfare History
With 2024 marking 79 years since VE Day and of course, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, we’re taking a look back at some of the UK coins that tell the story of Britain’s warfare history.
2024 D-Day 50p
This year marks 80 years since the day that turned the tide of the Second World War – D-Day. To honour this poignant anniversary, the 2024 UK D-Day 50p was issued.
On 6th June 1944, 156,000 Allied troops arrived in Normandy by land, sea and air to launch their assault on Nazi-occupied France. Codenamed Operation Neptune but commonly referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history.
The reverse design, created by renowned sculptor David Lawrence in collaboration with Imperial War Museums, depicts brave Allied troops risking their lives on that fateful day. In the foreground, soldiers disembark a landing craft onto the beaches whilst planes fly overhead approaching by air.
The landings took place at five assault beaches along a 50 mile stretch of the Normandy coast, they were given the codenames Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword – all of which are inscribed along the bottom of the design.
2020 Victory in Europe £2
In 2020, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, The Royal Mint issued the Victory in Europe £2.
It features a woman holding a newspaper aloft in a crowd of celebrating people, set against a backdrop of the word VICTORY. Also inscribed on the coin’s reverse design are the years 1945-2020 and the words ‘VICTORY IN EUROPE DAY’. The edge inscription reads ‘JUST TRIUMPH AND PROUD SORROW’.
The coin, designed by Dominque Evans, was originally issued as part of the 2020 Annual Coin set, but was individually released later that year to coincide with the anniversary.
2019 D-Day £2
The Royal Mint issued a £2 coin in 2019, commemorating the 75th Anniversary of D-Day – the largest seaborne invasion in history. The invasion took place on the 6th June 1944 and began the liberation of German occupied France and laid the foundations for the Allied Victory.
Initially issued as part of the 2019 Annual Coin Set, the D-Day £2 was favoured among collectors for its innovative design by Stephen Taylor.
The reverse design features arrows pointing across the English Channel to Normandy; each arrow has one of the five code-names for the beaches where Allied Troops landed: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
2015 Battle of Britain 50p
The Battle of Britain was an intense air battle fought mainly throughout the summer of 1940 between Germany and Britain. To commemorate 75 years since the great battle, The Royal Mint issued this 50p in 2015.
Designed by sculptor Gary Breeze, this coin quickly gained interest from collectors due to the three different obverses when it was initially minted. Find out more about that here >>
This coin was re-issued in 2019 as part of the 50th Anniversary of the 50p celebrations in the Military History 50p Collection.
2005 St. Paul’s Cathedral £2
In 2005, The Royal Mint issued a £2 coin to commemorate 60 years since the end of the Second World War.
Interestingly, the reverse design depicts St. Paul’s Cathedral. This is because the cathedral was one of only a few structures which survived the Blitz to become a great symbol of hope to a war-torn nation.
The edge inscription reads ‘IN VICTORY: MAGNAMITY, IN PEACE: GOODWILL’ which is part of the famous maxim that prefaces Churchill’s history of the Second World War.
This coin has a staggeringly high mintage of 10,191,000, meaning it ranks as ‘Common’ on the Change Checker Scarcity Index.
1995 Dove £2
This old-style £2 was issued in 1995 to mark 50 years since the end of the Second World War. The reverse design, by John Mills, features a dove as a symbol of peace since the end of the war. The edge inscription reads ‘1945 IN PEACE GOODWILL 1995’, highlighting fifty years since the truce.
The Dove £2 was one of only seven commemorative £2 coins to be issued in the older specifications before the change in 1997.
1994 D-Day 50p
In 1994, a UK 50p was issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings – the final 50p issued in the older 50p specification.
With a mintage of 6,705,520 it’s the second rarest of the pre-1997 50p coins, and despite the larger 50p specification being withdrawn from circulation in 1998, they do sometimes still pop up in our change – as proven in our latest 50p coin hunt!
This coin was also re-issed in 2019 as part of the 50th Anniversary of the 50p celebrations, but interestingly, the 1994 D-Day 50p was voted Change Checkers’ ‘Favourite Ever’ 50p!
It’s fair to say the UK has a great history of celebrating important warfare anniversaries on our coinage, and they certainly are popular with our collectors!
Which of these coins is your favourite?
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