Posts Tagged ‘royal shield’
Can you complete the shield!?
It’s been 16 years since Matthew Dent redesigned the UK’s definitive coins to create the Royal Shield of Arms design, and we now have the New UK Coinage for King Charles III which will replace these designs.
So it’s hard to believe there are still some people who don’t actually realise that these coins can be pieced together to complete the shield!
Time for change
In 2005, it was decided that our definitive UK coinage was due an overhaul, and The Royal Mint ran a competition for members of the public to design the new coins. Out of 4,000 designs that were submitted, The Royal Mint Advisory Committee selected Matthew Dent’s Royal Shield designs as the winner in 2008.
Speaking about his designs, Dent said “I felt that the solution to The Royal Mint’s brief lay in a united design, united in terms of theme, execution and coverage over the surface of the coins.”
Using all the coins from the 1p to the 50p and fitting them together like a jig-saw, the complete shield is revealed – as seen on the £1 coin design issued from 2008 until 2015.
Of course, the old round pound was replaced by the 12 sided Nations of the Crown £1 in 2017 and have now been withdrawn from circulation. However, the definitive 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p shield coins can still be found in your change, meaning the Royal Shield can still be collected and completed.
In fact, I bet if you were to check the change in your pocket right now, you’d be surprised by how much of the shield you’ll already be able to piece together!
Complete the Shield
So, why not try collecting the Royal Shield coins and see if you can complete the shield? And, if you’d like to give yourself even more of a challenge, how about collecting the whole shield for each year, starting with the coins issued in 2008!
To help you on your collecting journey, you can secure your own Royal Shield Collector Pack, which includes the Royal Shield 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 20p – all you have to do is find the 50p in your change to complete the shield.
Secure your Royal Shield Collector Pack for JUST £4.99 (+p&p) >>
Which RARE definitive 50p coins should you be looking out for?
At Change Checker, we often talk a lot about the commemorative coins you can find in your change, but did you know there are some definitive coins that can be just as rare? Join me as we delve into the world of definitive 50p coins, and which ones you should be looking out for in your change.
Britannia 50ps
Britannia, a fictional representation of Britain itself, first appeared on our coins in Roman times, but became a more permanent figure on UK coins in 1960s. Since its decimal introduction in 1969, Britannia could be found on the definitive 50p all the way up to 2008, when her portrait was replaced by the Royal Shield design.
Britannia 50ps are some of the most common coins in circulation, however there is one date you should keep an eye out for. If you come across a 2008 dated Britannia 50p, you should consider yourself lucky, as only 3,500,000 of these entered circulation!
This year was particularly significant because it marked the final time the Britannia design was issued for circulation before the introduction of the Royal Shield design.
Royal Shield 50ps
Next, let’s turn our attention to the Royal Shield 50ps, which featured on definitive UK 50ps from 2008 to 2022. The Royal Shield 50p was introduced in 2008 as part of Matthew Dent’s new definitive designs on the 1p to the 50p, which when fitted together, actually reveal the Royal Shield.
The last Royal Shield 50p issued for circulation was in 2022, and since then we’ve had the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the Coronation of King Charles III – so there’s been a shakeup in UK definitive coins!
The first definitive coins featuring King Charles III were revealed in October 2023, and the first one to enter circulation was the Atlantic Salmon 50p. Despite an estimated 500,000 Salmon 50ps entering circulation in November 2023, collectors have been finding them hard to come by!
Despite the Royal Shield being the definitive UK 50p design for a 14 year period, not every year saw them entering circulation. Royal Shield 50ps dated 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018 and 2021 are particularly special, because they were never intended for general circulation.
Instead, they were exclusively issued in annual coin sets, so the only way they could have ended up in your change is if a Brilliant Uncirculated version had been broken out of its collector pack and spent! Due to this, it’s not known how many Royal Shield 50ps with these dates are out there, but they do crop up from time to time, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for them!
Finally, there is one more definitive coin that we need to talk about – the 2017 Royal Shield 50p. Unlike its set-exclusive counterparts, this coin was released into circulation, however it has a mintage figure of just 1,800,000. This makes the 2017 Royal Shield 50p the rarest definitive 50p in circulation since the smaller 50p specification was introduced in 1997. So if you’re lucky enough to have one, you’ve got a true gem in your collection!
So, now you’re in the know about the rare definitive 50ps to watch out for in your change.
Do you have any of the coins I’ve mentioned in your collection? Let me know in the comments!
Secure the King Charles III New UK Coinage Set
If you haven’t been lucky enough to come across a King Charles III Salmon 50p in your change, you can secure it as part of the New UK Coinage Set which includes all 8 new definitive coin designs with a special privy mark on the obverse.
The 50p that’s even rarer than the 2017 Isaac Newton coin…
In 2008, Matthew Dent redesigned the UK’s definitive coins following a public competition which saw over 4,000 designs submitted.
His Royal Shield of Arms design was chosen by The Royal Mint Advisory Committee to feature on the reverse of all UK coins, and when each coin from the penny to the 50p is placed together, the completed design reveals the full shield. The lower section of the shield can be seen on the reverse design of the UK 50p.
Definitive 50ps are usually issued into circulation every year and generally go unnoticed as they are so readily available and mintage figures are often in the high millions.
Since 2008 this coin has been issued into circulation six times, but which Royal Shield 50p is the rarest?
The Royal Mint only issues coins based on demand, and therefore the coin wasn’t issued for circulation in 2009, 2010, 2011 or 2016. In the years that the coin was issued, the mintage figures vary from just 1,800,000 all the way up to 49,001,000.
By far the rarest 50p shield is the 2017 coin, which is actually the second rarest 50p coin in circulation!
The Kew Gardens is known as the UK’s rarest circulation 50p, with a mintage of just 210,000 and the next rarest commemorative 50p is the 2017 Sir Isaac Newton, with a mintage of 1,801,500. However, when you include definitive coins into the mix, the 2017 Royal Shield actually knocks the Sir Isaac Newton off second spot, with 1,500 less coins issued.
The most common Royal Shield 50p is the 2014 coin, with a mintage of 49,001,000, although this is not the most common 50p in circulation…
That title goes to the old definitive, featuring Christopher Ironside’s Britannia design. This design was first issued in 1969 as the first seven sided coin, issued to replace the 10 shilling note.
New Pence Britannia 50p. Issued from 1969 to 1981
In 1997 the coin was made smaller and lighter and the old coins ceased to be legal tender in the UK. Therefore, a whopping 456,364,100 Britannia 50p coins were issued that year to replace the old design, making the 1997 Britannia 50p Britain’s most common 50p.
Are the definitive 50p coins worth collecting?
As collectors, we often focus on the rarer commemorative designs when it comes to building our collections, but I think the chart above just goes to show why we shouldn’t overlook the rarity of the definitive coins.
You’re very likely to come across the Royal Shield 50p in your change (in fact, there might be one in your pocket right now!) so make sure you keep your eyes peeled to see if you can find the rare 2017 coin for your collection!
Own the UK’s rarest Royal Shield 50p within the 2017 Royal Mint Pack!
This set is no longer available from The Royal Mint, but today you can own all 13 of the United Kingdom’s 2017 annual coins in the Royal Mint Brilliant Uncirculated pack, including the UK’s rarest Royal Shield 50p.