How rare is my 50p and how much is it worth?

By Rachel | August 29, 2018 |

There are now over 35 different 50p coin designs in circulation and as an avid coin collector, there’s nothing better than finding a sought-after 50p in your change!

But with so many in circulation, how can you tell which are the ones to look for?

Luckily for you, we’ve done the leg work and compiled a number of resources to help you determine how rare your 50p is and how much it might be worth.

Mintages

A sure fire way to know if you’ve found a keeper is to check the mintage figures for your 50p. Generally speaking, the lower the mintage, the rarer the coin and the harder it will be to find in circulation.

Here are the most up to date mintage charts for UK 50p coins in circulation, with the UK’s rarest circulation 50p, Kew Gardens sat in top spot with the lowest mintage figures – just 210,000 of this coin were struck!

The 2018 and 2019 Peter Rabbit and Flopsy Bunny 50p coins hold joint second spot on the chart, as just 1,400,000 of each were issued for circulation! The 2020 Withdrawal from the EU 50p makes an entrance to our mintage chart alongside the 2020 Diversity Built Britain 50p, with mintages of 10,001,000 and 10,300,000 respectfully.

Click here to read more about the 50p mintage figures >> 

eBay Tracker

Mintage figures are a great way to find out how many of your coin were released into circulation and therefore how difficult it might be to find, but this doesn’t necessarily give you a value for your coin. One way in which you can determine what your coin might be worth is to look at the prices it has sold for on eBay.

Again, we’ve made things easy for you by taking the last 9 sold prices achieved on eBay and giving you the median price achieved (rounded to the nearest 50p). By taking the median, rather than an average, we avoid skewing created by one or two excessive prices achieved.

Here’s the top 10 highest selling UK circulation coins from our eBay Tracker, with Kew Gardens not surprisingly having the highest selling price, followed by the 1992/93 EEC 50p (the rarest 50p to have ever entered circulation!)

Click here to see our full eBay Tracker >>

Scarcity Index

To give you a complete picture of how your coin compares to other 50ps in circulation, we have combined the mintage information with two other key pieces of information to provide the Change Checker Scarcity Index:

  • 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.

Here’s our most recent Scarcity Index for 50p coins, with yet again Kew Gardens coming in on top as the most scarce 50p. Where does your 50p rank on the Scarcity Index?

See the full Index here >> 

So now you have access to a range of tools to help indicate how rare your 50p is and what it might be worth. Of course, these figures will change in time as the latest 50ps are released into circulation, so you never know, we could see the elusive Kew Gardens kicked off top spot one day!

Have you found any rare coins in your change recently? Let us know in the comments below.

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

Posted in 50p Coins, Blog Home, Coin Info, Coin News, General info, Live Swap Events

24 Comments

  1. Milly on September 24, 2018 at 3:21 am

    Hi I have two 50 pence pieces, both 2017.
    One of them is the Benjamin bunny and the other is The Tale Of Peter Rabbit.
    Both in mint condition.



  2. Martin on September 11, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    I have a mrs tiggy-winkle 50p what is it worth? Thanks



    • Rachel Hooper on September 12, 2018 at 8:47 am

      Hi martin, we don’t do valuations I’m afraid as it’s too dependent on the condition of the coin and whether or not the buyer needs it for their collection. However you can find information such as mintage figures and scarcity index data in our blog which should help and if you check the recently sold listings on ebay you will see what people are currently paying for the coin. Thanks, Rachel



  3. Jasmine on September 8, 2018 at 4:37 pm

    Hi rachel, i have the dictionary coin saxon 1755? Theses are veing sold from some sellers for 2,000 pound. What do you think and is the best place to sell ebay



    • Rachel Hooper on September 10, 2018 at 10:49 am

      Hi Jasmine, if you’re looking on ebay it is best to check the recently sold prices, as coins may be listed for a high price but not actually sell for that. Checking to see what the coin is currently selling for will give you a better idea of how much you could expect to sell your coin for on ebay. I hope this helps. Thanks, Rachel



  4. David. Horler on August 30, 2018 at 4:22 pm

    I have 4 of battle of Hasting. And 2 battle of britain all used bu5 good condition



    • Rachel Hooper on August 31, 2018 at 8:19 am

      Great finds, well done David!



  5. Adam moore on August 30, 2018 at 9:50 am

    I have isaac nuton 2 or 3 spare



  6. David Black on August 30, 2018 at 6:26 am

    You say that sir Isaac Newton is second rarest at 2.100.000 but I was told that this coin would become the rarest with only 1.800.000 being made. This was why I bought 6 of them did royal mint tell me wrong.
    Yours sincerely David



  7. Lynn Forman on August 29, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    I have a huge collection of £2 coins
    Loads of 50ps
    Loads of the Beatrix potter coins how do I go about selling them please
    Thank you



  8. Steve Powell on August 29, 2018 at 8:52 pm

    Could you tell me please on how rare the new 2018 Isaac Newton 50p is going to be ?
    And will they ever circulate the coin
    Thanks Steve



    • Rachel Hooper on August 30, 2018 at 8:30 am

      Hi Steve, the 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p is expected to be very sought-after and you can find out why in this blog: https://www.changechecker.org/2018/01/04/could-the-2018-sir-isaac-newton-50p-coin-become-the-rarest-50p-ever/



      • Steve powell on August 30, 2018 at 1:25 pm

        Hi all,
        Regarding the 2018 Isaac Newton 50p
        Your views please?
        Did the Royal Mint mess up?
        Living close by to the mint, it was easy to get my hands on one of these uncirculated coins.
        You had to pay to undertake the Royal Mint Experience tour, and striking your own coin at the end.
        Fine! If you live close enough to do this !!
        It soon caught on that people were willing to buy these coins then on eBay for between £50-£80
        Now I believe they are still selling for around £40
        The coin collectors amongst us, were then finding it difficult to book on a tour to get the coin due to people booking themselves on every single tour of the day
        They had no interest of what the tour guide was telling them regarding the history of the Royal Mint, they would just walk to the exit doors on each display
        The tour guides were really getting fed up, of still having to complete the tour, with persons they had already shown around 10 times that same day.
        In the final months of this coin being available, the mint attempted to reduce the number of times persons could book per day.
        However this was poorly managed.
        My experience seeing family’s dragging their children around tour after tour, just to get extra coins to sell on eBay, was disheartening, and not interested in collecting at all.
        I don’t see why coin collectors living miles from the mint, have to buy a coin on eBay for at one stage £50/80
        Did the mint mess up?
        Or did they make a killing on the costs of the tour itself ?



  9. john cappello on August 29, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    Interesting observation, I’ve had 26 inquiries for my 50p judo coin, 24 off then have only offered Tom kitten, must be a lot of them going spare!!



  10. john wellman on August 29, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    Which is the scarcest 50p between the battle of Britain coins with the 4th portrait or the 5 portrait of the queen??



  11. john wellman on August 29, 2018 at 1:17 pm

    Where does the 2015 battle of britain 50p without 50p written on it come in the list (how many of these were released before the error was noticed???



    • Rowena Cox on August 31, 2018 at 1:49 pm

      Hi John,
      It was only the Silver Proof 50p which didn’t have the denomination on the Battle of Britain 50p, so none were entered into circulation.
      Thanks
      Rowena



  12. Hazel mcinnes on August 29, 2018 at 11:52 am

    I have 2p coins with the words new pence dated 1971,77,79,80. I have a five pence dated 2012 but it is silver on one side and evidence of it being black on the other also have a ten pence dated 1992 which also looks black in colour also a two pence dated2009 but it has a lion feature on front and the queens head has an error on her hair also have 1p coins dated1971 in mint is condition as the wrapper broke also have five pound commenetive coins one has people riding horse on one side and circle of trumpets on other the other has queen Elizabeth the queen mother with signature the other has queen mother August 41980 another one is dated 1977 and the other is of prince Charles and lady Diana spencer also have various other coins which appear to be of foreign origin are the above mentioned of any value