Posts Tagged ‘mintage’
First King Charles III Definitive Coins enter circulation – 2023 Mintage Figures announced!
Each year, one of the biggest numismatic updates comes when the latest mintage figures are announced, and The Royal Mint have just revealed the mintages of all coins that entered circulation in 2023! Every year, when this information is released, we update our Change Checker Mintage charts to see where new circulating coins rank.
Excitingly, in 2023 we saw the very first King Charles III definitive coins start to enter circulation, kicking off with the Atlantic Salmon 50p, which knocked the Kew Gardens 50p off the top spot as Britain’s new rarest 50p!
But the Salmon 50p wasn’t the only new coin that entered our change last year…
50p Mintage Figures
It’s the 2023 Salmon 50p that’s been hitting the headlines due to its incredibly low mintage of just 200,000, making it even rarer than the Kew Gardens 50p which has now been bumped down to 2nd place on our mintage chart.
The Salmon 50p wasn’t the only new 50p to enter circulation in 2023, as the Coronation 50p also made it’s way into our change.
On 10th August 2023, 5 million King Charles III Coronation 50ps entered circulation and we opened our collector map to find out where in the country they were popping up.
From the map data, we put together a list of the Top 5 places where you’re most likely to find a Coronation 50p in your change, and Birmingham came out on top with 5.1% of Coronation 50ps being found there! You can check out where else they were being found here >>
£2 Mintage Figures
Since 2016, no new commemorative £2 coins have entered circulation, and in 2023, there were also no new definitive £2s put into circulation.
The only denominations from the New UK Coinage featuring King Charles III that haven’t yet entered circulation are the Flowers of the Four Nations £2 and the Red Squirrel 2p, so the circulating £2 coin drought continues!
As nothing has changed on the £2 mintage figure chart this year, the 2002 Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games £2 remains the rarest £2 coin in circulation, with a mintage of just 485,000.
2023 Definitives
Usually, the mintage figures for definitive coins are somewhat less exciting than the commemorative coins entering circulation, as the designs have remained the same for the last 16 years. However, the 2023 mintages are particularly interesting as they confirm how many of the very first King Charles III definitive coins entered circulation!
Although we’ve already spoken about the Salmon 50p and its shockingly low mintage, we’ll still include it here as it is technically a definitive coin design.
- Hazel Dormouse 1p: 600,000
- Red Squirrel 2p: 0
- Oak 5p: 32,400,000
- Capercaillie 10p: 600,000
- Puffin 20p: 525,000
- Salmon 50p: 200,000
- Bee £1: 10,030,000
- Flowers of the Nations £2: 0
Interestingly, this makes the 2023 dated 1p, 10p and 20p the rarest coins of their denominations since decimalisation (with the exception of the 2018 and 2019 A-Z 10p coins)!
Considering this, 2023 dated coins are sure to go down in history as some of the most sought after circulating coins, so keep an eye out for them in your change!
It’s always exciting when new mintage figures are revealed, especially when it brings an end to the previous rarest UK 50p’s 15-year reign!
Have you been lucky enough to find a 2023 Salmon 50p in your change? If you’re still searching, don’t forget you can secure the Brilliant Uncirculated version as part of the New UK Coinage set. What’s more, the coins in this set feature a special privy mark which sets them aside from the ones you’ll find in your change.
Why are the Olympic 50ps so Sought-After?
As we look ahead to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games this year, I can hardly believe it’s been more than 10 years since London 2012!
Not only was this a pivotal moment in Britain’s sporting history, but it also marked a significant moment in the collecting world – inspiring the nation to check their change and join the hunt for the 29 different sporting designs to be found…
The UK Olympic 50p Series
Without doubt, this 29 coin series created a frenzy, and not just among collectors… Millions rose to the challenge of collecting all 29, and for many, this marked the start of their interest in coins.
So popular were these 50ps, that The Royal Mint estimates as many as 75% of them have been removed from circulation by collectors!
But are you lucky enough to have any in your collection and which ones should you really be looking out for?
What is the rarest Olympic 50p?
Olympic 50ps have long been a favourite amongst collectors, not only for their exciting theme, but also the thrill of tracking down these rare coins. Minted in much lower quantities than the standard 50ps you can find in your change, it really has been somewhat of a treasure hunt trying to find these coins!
In fact, as the rarest of them all, only 1,125,500 Football 50ps entered circulation! This is definitely the rare one to look out for. Closely following the Football 50p, you’ll see the Wrestling, Judo, Triathlon and Tennis coins – each with a mintage less than 1.5 million.
However, are there Olympic 50ps out there even rarer than these? To find out we must look beyond The Royal Mint’s official circulation figures…
The withdrawn Aquatics ‘error’ Olympic 50p
Did you know that the Aquatics 50p which we are familiar with today is actually a modified version of the coin design?
The original version featured waves passing over the swimmer’s face, but was withdrawn from circulation and the design adapted to make the face more visible. However, there are still a few out there…
Although the exact quantity of the original Aquatics design remains a mystery, it has been known for these special coins to exchange hands for close to £1000… not a bad return on a 50p coin!
2009 Athletics Olympic 50p
In 2009, nine-year old Florence Jackson became the youngest person to design a coin for circulation in the UK. Her Athletics Olympic 50p design was the ultimate winner of a Blue Peter competition.
Although you may recognise this coin, you may not know that a rare version of this coin exists. When the competition winner was revealed, only 100,000 special edition Blue Peter coin packs were released with a 2009 dated coin – making it the only Olympic 50p without a 2011 date.
In fact, so few of these packs were issued, that it makes this 2009 Athletics Olympic 50p more than twice as rare as the famous Kew Gardens 50p!
The Gold Olympic 50ps
Did you know that a gold version of the coin was presented to the respective artist of each design?
It is without doubt that the gold versions of each 50p remain the rarest of the entire series. But, unfortunately for collectors, obtaining one of these is nearly impossible as only one gold version of each design was presented to the respective winning designer.
Aside from the precious metal content, their unique status and significance rank them as potentially the most valuable UK 50p coins in existence!
Continuing Your Olympic 50p Collection
To the delight of many Olympic 50p collectors, in 2016 The Royal Mint issued a special 50p to wish Team GB success for the Rio Olympic Games.
The coin’s obverse features a swimmer with the Team GB logo, the Olympic rings and the inscription ‘TEAM GB’. Designed by Tim Sharp, the coin was officially endorsed by Team GB and celebrated the spirit of British Olympians – a must have for all Olympic 50p Collectors.
But it doesn’t stop there!
Dual-Dated Team GB 50p
Back in 2020, a new Team GB 50p was released as part of the 2020 Annual Coin Set to celebrate Team GB’s participation in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the postponement of the Olympic Games to 2021, this 50p was never individually released in 2020…
Excitingly, this meant that there were two versions of the coin – one with the obverse dated 2020 from the 2020 Annual Coin Set and one with the obverse dated 2021 from the coin’s individual release!
This makes the 2021 UK Team GB 50p one of only a small handful of UK 50ps to feature a dual-date – only adding to its collectability!
The Latest Olympic 50p
This year, as we look ahead to the Paris Olympic Games, The Royal Mint has issued a new 50p to celebrate our British Olympians and Paralympians.
On the reverse are 2 geometric athletes in action set against the Union flag. If you look closely, you’ll also see the Eiffel Tower at the bottom, a nod to the city where the games will take place.
This coin has been issued in the 2024 Annual Coin Set and is the first of the UK’s sporting 50ps to feature King Charles III on the obverse.
You can bet that Olympic 50p collectors will eagerly be awaiting the individual release of this new coin, but will you be adding it to your collection? Let us know in the comments below!
Secure the 2024 50p in this year’s Annual Set!
If you can’t wait to get your hands on the 2024 British Olympians and Paralympians 50p, you can add all FIVE new coins to your collection for JUST £42 (+postage), simply click here >>
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.
The 2p drought returns…2022 Mintage Figures REVEALED!
One of the biggest numismatic updates of the year comes when the latest mintage figures are announced, and The Royal Mint have just revealed the mintages of all coins that entered circulation in 2022! Each year, when this information is released, we update our Change Checker Mintage charts to see where new circulating coins rank.
We saw millions of almost every denomination enter circulation in 2022, however there was one denomination that you won’t find with a 2022 date in your change…read on to find out more.
50p Mintage Figures
Three commemorative 50p designs entered circulation in 2022, as well as the definitive Royal Shield 50p design. It was a year of ‘firsts’ as the 2022 Platinum Jubilee 50p was the first ever royal 50p to be issued and the Queen Elizabeth Memorial 50p was the first ever UK coin issued bearing King Charles III on the obverse.
With the Queen Elizabeth Memorial 50p marking a new era of coinage featuring the King, many collectors old and new were excited to find it in their change. We opened our collector map to track where they were popping up across the country, and it turned out the place most people found one was Newcastle!
Find out where the rest were found >>
Despite these new coins being extremely sought after amongst collectors, the 2009 Kew Gardens 50p remains at the top of our chart, with a circulating mintage of only 210,000!
£2 Mintage Figures
After 2016, there was a 4 year period where no new £2 coins, either commemorative or definitive, entered circulation, however this changed in 2021 when 6,045,000 Britannia £2 coins were released into circulation.
The newly released figures show that in 2022, 4,030,000 Britannia £2s entered circulation, and although the amount is considerably lower than the previous year, it is indicative that there is a demand for £2 coins.
We still haven’t seen any new commemorative £2 coin designs enter circulation since 2016, however, when this does happen next, it’ll be the first to feature the King on the obverse – another collecting ‘first’!
2022 Definitives
The mintage figures for 2022 dated definitive coins were also revealed…
- Nations of the Crown £1: 7,735,000
- Royal Shield 20p: 42,875,000
- Royal Shield 10p: 38,000,000
- Royal Shield 5p: 42,800,000
- Royal Shield 2p: 0
- Royal Shield 1p: 30,000,000
As mentioned above, you might notice something odd about one of the denominations’ mintage figure – the Royal Shield 2p doesn’t have one! But this isn’t the first time that the 2 pence piece has had a mintage figure of zero.
No 2p coins entered circulation in 2018, 2019 or 2020, however it made a comeback in 2021 with a whopping 117,700,000 entering circulation. Despite its resurgence in 2021, it seems that the 2p drought could be returning – hopefully not for 3 years this time!
It’s always exciting when new mintage figures are revealed and you realise just how rare the change in your pocket really is!
Have you been lucky enough to find any 2022 dated coins in your change? 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