Posts Tagged ‘News’
Winnie the Pooh 50ps – could these be the most sought-after 50ps yet?
“It isn’t much good having anything exciting, if you can’t share it with somebody.” said Winnie the Pooh
In 2020, The Royal Mint announced a brand new 9-coin 50p collection celebrating the beloved Winnie the Pooh books!
The final coin in the collection was released in 2022, celebrating Britain’s best-loved bear and his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood.
2022 UK Winnie the Pooh and Friends 50p
As the perfect way to round off the collection, this final coin in the series features a heart-warming design of Winnie and his friends – including Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger – together in the Hundred Acre Wood.
The nostalgic coin brings to life the classic illustrations by E.H. Shepard from the much-loved children’s novels – celebrating over 95 years of fun-filled adventures.
If you look closely, a buzzing bumblebee can even be seen flying across the coin as a unifying feature across each 50p in the series.
2022 UK Kanga and Roo 50p
The sweet, gentle, and kind-hearted Kanga joined the Winnie the Pooh 50p collection, accompanied by her adventurous son, Roo.
The nostalgic reverse design featuring these delightful characters brings to life the classic illustrations by E.H. Shepard from the much-loved children’s novels.
Kanga was based off Christopher Robin’s real-life stuffed animal and in A. A. Milne’s stories, E. H. Shepard illustrates her with brown fur all over. Although kangaroos traditionally have a ‘pouch’, A. A. Milne describes Kanga’s as a ‘pocket’, in which her son Roo is often safely tucked into.
Add the 2022 Kanga & Roo 50p to your collection >>
2022 UK Eeyore 50p
The clever, brilliant, and witty Eeyore also joined his friends in the Winnie the Pooh 50p collection, with his tail firmly attached!
Featuring a design taken from E. H. Shepard’s original illustrations, this 50p shows the loveable, old, grey stuffed donkey, just as we remember him from A. A. Milne’s books.
Although famous for his melancholic nature, Eeyore’s loyalty always wins the hearts of his friends from Hundred Acre Wood, especially when he loses his tail.
Add the 2022 Eeyore 50p to your collection >>
2021 Tigger, Owl, and Winnie the Pooh and Friends 50p coins
The next three coins in the series, issued in 2021, featured Owl, Tigger and the whole gang from Hundred Acre Wood.
On the design of the Tigger 50p, we see the bouncy character hopping around just as he does in E. H. Shepard’s original illustrations – on all four legs!
Sitting tall and proud on his 50p, Owl can be seen with quill and paper at the ready. Always on hand to share his advice (even when it may not be wanted!), Owl is the wisest inhabitant of Hundred Acre Wood.
We also saw all the main characters from A. A. Milne‘s classic tale feature on one 50p together. The 2021 Winnie the Pooh and Friends 50p proved a huge hit with coin collectors and fans of the books too!
2020 Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, and Piglet 50p Coins
The first three coins in the series, issued in 2020, featured designs of Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, and Piglet and were some of the most sought-after coins of the year!
First in the series we saw Winnie the Pooh himself, just as we remember him, with a reverse design by The Walt Disney Company which features an original illustration from the Winnie the Pooh storybooks by E.H. Shepard.
Following closely behind we see Pooh’s most-trusted companion and friend, Christopher Robin, who featured on the second 50p in the 2020 series! Concluding the 2020 series, the character with the biggest heart in all of Hundred Acre Wood, Piglet, made his UK 50p debut.
The Story Behind the Classic
Winnie the Pooh was a collection of short stories first published in 1926 by A.A. Milne, for his son, Christopher Robin.
Most of Christopher Robin’s real life toys were the inspiration for A.A. Milne’s characters, but most significantly his favourite teddy bear which Winnie the Pooh himself is based on!
Alongside Winnie the Pooh, the fictional Hundred-Acre-Wood is inhabited by:
- The timid but sometimes brave, Piglet
- The glum but loveable donkey, Eeyore
- The bouncy, one-of-a-king, Tigger
- The loving and gentle, Kanga and her baby Roo
- The terribly organised Rabbit,
- The wise, old, Owl, and
- The scary, honey-stealing Heffalumps!
The timeless and universal appeal of this silly old bear is unparalleled. He’s featured in 3 books, various film adaptations, and much much more.
Could these 50p coins become the most sought-after issues?
We’ve seen some incredible character 50ps in the past, which have been a world-wide hit with collectors.
In 2019, to mark the 20th Anniversary of Julia Donaldson’s much-loved children’s book The Gruffalo®, a new 50p was issued.
This coin was so popular that the silver-proof version completely SOLD OUT at the Royal Mint within 12 hours of its release, making it the fastest selling and most popular 50p ever. That’s a 50p sold every 2 seconds!
We’ve also seen the huge popularity of the Beatrix Potter 50ps, issued to celebrate the life and work of Beatrix Potter and the 150th Anniversary of her birth.
These coins were so popular amongst collectors, they reached heights that hadn’t been seen since the 2011 Olympic 50p series. Collectors of all ages were racing to add these coins to their collections and to gift them to friends and family.
Fill the gaps in your Winnie the Pooh Collection!
Shop our Winnie the Pooh 50p Collection to fill the gaps in your collection >>
©Disney. Based on the “Winnie the Pooh” works by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard.
Rarest 50ps Revealed! 2018 Mintage Figure Update
Exciting news! The Royal Mint have revealed the latest mintage figures for 2018 coins!
Seven 50p coins entered circulation in 2018 and collectors across the nation have been debating how rare each one might be.
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 Beatrix Potter 50ps
Collectors who have held on to their 2018 Beatrix Potter 50ps will be delighted to see that these coins have lower mintages than any of the previous Beatrix Potter coins issued in 2016 and 2017.
In fact, three out of the four Beatrix Potter 50ps released in 2018 are even rarer than the 2016 Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p – previously thought of as the rarest Beatrix Potter 50p in circulation!
With a mintage of just 1,400,000 the 2018 Peter Rabbit and 2018 Flopsy Bunny 50ps are sure to become incredibly sought-after amongst collectors, as they take joint second spot on our mintage figure chart (which excludes Olympic 50ps).
These two coins, alongside the 2018 Mrs Tittlemouse (mintage: 1,700,000) have pushed the 2017 Sir Isaac Newton (mintage: 1,801,500) off the podium.
Whilst the 2018 Tailor of Gloucester has a slightly higher mintage at 3,900,000 the other three coins in the 2018 series have only been pipped to the post by the UK’s rarest 50p in circulation, the Kew Gardens.
With a mintage of 210,000 this 50p is considered the holy grail of change collecting and dominates the Change Checker mintage figure charts and Scarcity Index.
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.
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 last year.
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.
The new definitive £2 was released in 2015, replacing the Technology £2 with a Britannia design, but for the past two years it seems there has not been enough demand to issue this coin for circulation.
In fact, aside from the £1 coin, no new definitive coins were released at all last year, from the 1p to the £2 coin.
A-Z 10p update
Despite no definitive 10p coins entering circulation in 2018, The Royal Mint have confirmed mintage figures for the highly popular A-Z of Great Britain 10p coins.
From Angel of the North to Zebra Crossing, 26 new 10p designs were released in 2018 to celebrate what makes Britain British.
Initially, 2.6 million of these coins were released, followed by another 2.6 million later in the year.
However, up until now the individual mintages for each design had not been confirmed.
The mintage figure update now reveals that 220,000 of each design entered circulation in 2018, which makes the individual 2018 10p coins almost as rare as the Kew Gardens 50p…
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 next 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
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app
June 2018 Video Newsletter
Watch as Yasmin and Rachel discuss all the latest news from the world of change collecting:
You can also watch our June Video Newsletter on Instagram TV here >>