It’s all change! 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.

Our 50p index has been given a huge shakeup, with moves across the majority of the board! The same can be said for the £2 Index, with JUST four coins being untouched.

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.

50p Index

May 2022 50p Scarcity Index Update

It’s been a HUGE quarter for our 50p coins with this Scarcity Index update showing nearly all circulating UK 50p coins having moved around!

The Pentathlon 50p has climbed an incredible 12 places, pushing towards the top of our index. This coin has a circulating mintage of 1,689,500 which makes it one of the rarer 50ps in circulation.

Whilst it’s not the rarest Olympic 50p out there, all of these coins are incredibly popular with collectors, and have been since the 2012 Olympic Games!

Other key movers include the Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle 50p which has climbed by 12 places and the Handball 50p which has climbed by 8 places.

£2 Index

May 2022 £2 Scarcity Index

Another big shake up sees just FOUR coins on our £2 Index remain in the same place, with some huge movers causing a shuffle.

The Shakespeares Comedies £2 has been bumped down 12 places and the Gunpowder Plot £2 has climbed an impressive 9 places!

Other key movers to keep your eyes on are the Brunel – Paddington Station £2, which has climbed 9 places and the Florence Nightingale £2, which has climbed by 8.

A-Z 10p Index

May 2022 A-Z 10p Index

As the Change Checker team travelled up north on our Platinum Jubilee 50p coin swap tour, it seems the Lochness Monster 10p was following suit, as it climbs 13 places!

And as we approach the Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend, the Jubilee 10p has climbed up towards the top of the index. With growing interest in Jubilee themed coins, including the 2022 Platinum Jubilee 50p, there’s no surprises more collectors are wanting to get their hands on this 10p!

Other key movers include the NHS, Angel of the North, and Bond 10p coins, which have all climbed up 4 places.

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!

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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NATIONAL PLATINUM JUBILEE 50p for 50p BALLOT ANNOUNCED!

2022 marks Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II‘s Platinum Jubilee – an incredible 70 year reign that makes her the longest reigning living monarch worldwide!

At Change Checker HQ, we’ve been celebrating this royal milestone with the issue of the brand new 2022 Platinum Jubilee 50p coin, issued earlier this year.

And today, we’re excited to announce our National Platinum Jubilee 50p for 50p ballot is open!

This was the UK’s first royal 50p and featured a special obverse design of Her Majesty on horsebacknever before seen on a UK 50p!

It was so sought-after that the entire limited edition range sold-out within less than 24 hours at The Royal Mint!

In addition to the 50p coins won in our Face Value Coin Ballot, Change Checker also swapped 7,808 Platinum Jubilee 50p coins at our four Live Coin Swap Events (1,952 coins per event!).

And now, we’re delighted to have opened our National Platinum Jubilee 50p for 50p ballot, in celebration of the UK’s biggest bank holiday, coming in June!

Your chance to own the 2022 Platinum Jubilee 50p for JUST 50p

Today, you have the opportunity to enter the Change Checker ballot for the chance to be one of the 1,952 lucky collectors to own this sought-after coin for JUST 50p!

Simply click here to enter for free!

The winners will be contacted via email on the 1st June with details of how to claim your new 50p coin for just 50p.

Best of luck, Change Checkers!


Don’t want to miss out?

Secure the brand new 2022 UK Platinum Jubilee 50p for your collection in Brilliant Uncirculated quality today! Simply click here to guarantee yours for £4.99 (+p&p) >>

Your coin will come struck to a Brilliant Uncirculated quality, protectively encapsulated in official Change Checker packaging – the perfect way to preserve your coin for generations to come!

International Women’s Day! Remarkable Women Celebrated on UK Coins…

International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

To celebrate, in this blog we take a closer look at just some of the incredible women who have been commemorated on our UK coins!

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II

Celebrating her Platinum Jubilee in 2022, Queen Elizabeth II is Britain’s longest reigning monarch and the fourth longest reigning monarch in worldwide history!

There have been some incredible coins celebrating Her Majesty, including the recently issued Platinum Jubilee 50p coin – the UK’s FIRST Royal 50p!

This 50p features a reverse design by agency Osborne Ross but, what’s particularly special about this coin is that TWO versions have actually been created…

One includes an obverse design by John Bergdahl featuring the Queen on horseback (pictured left) and the other includes Jody Clark’s obverse of the Queen’s portrait.

QEII is arguably the most loved and respected monarch our country has ever seen so it’s only right on the day we honour the achievements of women throughout history, that we dedicate a portion to Her Majesty.

Dame Vera Lynn

Coined as the ‘Forces Sweetheart’, singer Dame Vera Lynn rose to fame in 1940 with her wartime songs, White Cliffs of Dover, and We’ll Meet Again.

Vera Lynn spent time travelling the world, singing to soldiers who were fighting on front lines.

She risked her life to inspire others when they needed it most and provided comfort to those of wouldn’t survive to return home.

Sadly, in 2020, we received the news that Dame Vera Lynn had passed away. She touched the lives of so many, that Her Majesty the Queen sent a private message of condolence to Dame Vera’s family.

In 2022, The Royal Mint commemorated Dame Vera Lynn’s life and achievements with this brand new £2 coin. Featuring a portrait of the famous singer on the reverse, this £2 is the perfect tribute to one of the UK’s most inspirational women.

Mary Anning

Mary Anning was one of Britain’s greatest fossil hunters and her discoveries were some of the most important geological finds of all time.

Her discoveries of spectacular marine reptiles prompted the scientific community to begin further investigation into explanations for changes in the natural world.

In 2021, a new 50p series was issued to commemorate Anning by The Royal Mint.

These 50p coins, issued in collaboration with the Natural History Museum, feature designs of the Temnodontosaurus, Plesiosaurus and, Dimorphodon – all prehistoric giants discovered by Anning on the Jurassic Coast!

A truly inspiring woman, who pushed for her passion, making important historic discoveries and changes as a result.

Rosalind Franklin

English chemist, Rosalind Franklin sits right at the very heart of the story of DNA.

Her ground-breaking research and inspiring work ethic were central to the discovery of the helical structure of DNA, which was later publicised by Watson and Crick.

Tragically, at the age of just 37, Franklin passed away from ovarian cancer, robbing her of the same awards and recognitions that her colleagues were gifted.

But in 2020, to celebrate what would have been her 100th birthday, she also became the second scientist to be celebrated in The Royal Mint’s Innovation in Science series.

The reverse design of this coin, by David Knapton, features a depiction of her famous Photograph 51, which enabled her to discover the structure of DNA in her laboratory in Cambridge.

Agatha Christie

After the end of the First World War, Christie published her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles

This incredibly popular story introduced readers to one of Christie’s most famous characters – Belgian detective Hercule Poirot*.

Writing well into her later years, Christie wrote more than 70 detective novels as well as short fiction which have been adapted into films, television, and radio programmes.

In 1971, she was made a Dame of the British Empire for her outstanding contribution to Literature.

In 2020, to mark 100 years since her first publication, The Royal Mint celebrated the world’s best-selling novelist with a £2 coin.

David Lawrence’s design of this coin pays homage to Christie’s crime novels, with a piece of a jigsaw slotting into place and her signature at the bottom.


There really have been some incredible women celebrated on our UK coins, and this is just a small selection.

Is there an influential women you’d like to see on our coins in the future? Let us know in the comments below!


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