UPDATE: How rare is my coin? The complete Change Checker guide to UK coin mintages
In 2016, we took a look at the mintage figures of all 50p, £1 and £2 coins that have been released. As always, ‘The Change Checker guide to UK coin mintages’ is THE place to check how rare your coins are! Here are the charts listing each coin in order of its rarity.
The Kew Gardens 50p coin remains top of the chart and doesn’t look as though it’ll be shifted any time soon!
Due to the high number of commemorative designs, no definitive design 50p coins were struck for circulation in 2016. Of those commemorative designs, the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit 50p has the highest mintage with 9.6 million pieces. However, some collectors may struggle to complete their Beatrix Potter set as it’s been revealed that only 2.1 million Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p coins were struck, making it the second most scarce commemorative 50p design (excluding the Olympic 50p series)! Squirrel Nutkin has also made it into the top 10 rare 50ps with a mintage of 5 million.
2016 was the first year since 1983 that no round £1 coins were struck for circulation due to the release of the new 12-sided £1 coin, as a result, this chart is now set in stone and the 2011 Edinburgh coin will remain the target for all round £1 coin collectors. But they’ll have to act quickly – along with the other round £1 coins it will disappear from circulation forever on 15th October.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland £2 still remains the only £2 coin to have a mintage of less that 500,000, placing it firmly at the top of the chart.
From the 2016 designs, the First World War Army £2 coin has a very high mintage figure with over 9.5million pieces being struck, making it the second most common commemorative £2 coin ever.
Interestingly, the three Shakespeare £2 coins, ‘Comedies‘, ‘Histories‘ and ‘Tragedies‘ each have a different mintage figure. Over 1.3 million fewer ‘Comedies’ coins were struck than ‘tragedies’, likely having an impact on collectability in the future.
You’ll notice that the Britannia £2 coin isn’t listed, this is because it is a definitive design, however the mintage increased to just over 3.5 million.
It will be very interesting to see how these coins fare in our updated Scarcity Indexes which will be released in July, so keep your eyes peeled for any changes.
And keep hold of your coins – you never know what they might be worth in the future! Remember you can Find, Collect and Swap all your coins for FREE with the Change Checker App: http://www.changechecker.org
The following coins are not included in the above charts:
Mintage
Old £1 2013 Royal Shield 13,090,500
Old £1 2011 Royal Shield 25,415,000
Old £1 2009 Royal Shield 27,625,600
Old £1 2015 Royal Shield 29,580,000
Old £1 2012 Royal Shield 35,700,030
Old £1 2010 Royal Shield 57,120,000
Old £1 2003 Royal Arms 61,596,500
Old £1 2015 Royal Shield 62,475,640
Old £1 2014 Royal Shield 79,305,200
£2 2015 Britannia 650,000
£2 2016 Britannia 2,925,000
£2 2005 Technology 3,837,250
£2 2012 Technology 3,900,000
50p 2013 Royal Shield 10,301,000
50p 2007 Britannia 11,200,000
how many BU jemima puddleducks were minted?
are they part of the 2,100,000 minted?
Hi David, The Royal Mint have not confirmed the BU figures for a number of years, so the 2,100,000 refers to the number of circulated coins. Thanks Luke
Why isn’t the 2015 and 2016 Britannia £2 coins on the chart?
I have milners tower 50p it is not on the checker chart
Hi Scott, this is because the Milner’s Tower 50p is from the Isle of Man. The Scarcity Index is made up of UK circulation coins. However, that is a great coin to have in your collection. Thanks, Luke
Just noted that in the Olympic 50p list Volleyball and Badminton are shown with a mintage of 2,113,500 each (which is less than Fencing that appears higher in the list 2,115,500) The royal mint report Volleyball and Badminton as 2,133,500 each.
Hi Graham, well spotted, you are correct that is an error on our side. We’ll get this updated. Thanks for your message. Luke
How rare is the last round £1 coin
Hi Ignore my earlier question as I have had some new responses
What have you got to swap Craig?
Has a 2016 royal arms one pound been released? It’s not on your list , but is appearing on other lists . Thanks .
Rob
Hi was just wondering if swap centre is working i rtealise not everyone wants to swap but havnt had a response in weeks
I have done a few swaps in the last few weeks, but sent out hundreds of requests, to get only a small number of responses back.
Only suggestion is to keep sending in those requests to swap.
Best of luck with your coin-hunting
Mark
One pound coin 2016 with mint mark, 10000 minted.
Hi got a 5 pound coin dated2000 and a 2 pound coin 1986 are they worth anything
During our tour of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, London today, the tour guide said the Mint were releasing only 155,000 of the Isaac Newton 50p.
This will be less than Kew?
Hi Gerald, If that were to be the case then yes, it would make it more scarce than Kew. However, I am not sure where the guide is getting his information from as The Royal Mint do not confirm mintage figures until long after the release date. I hope this helps, Luke
Where doe`s the 1992/1993 euro 50p come into this list
I have stopped collecting I have every coin on the
£2 £1 & 50p lists. I also have 150 2000 Dragons.
(read somewhere that they were lucky) guess they will
be going to the bank before October,
Which is rarer the. JC or I R B Battle of Britain 50p
2.1m Jemimas eh………..that’s good as I have over 80 complete uncirculated sets
Hi I have a complete set of Olympic 50p and round pounds, just wondering how much that lot might be worth in years to come
Hi Sean, that’s a great set to have. Unfortunately, we do not offer valuations, however I would suggest visiting a platform such as eBay to see what others are selling a similar set for. I hope this helps. Thanks Luke
I have 5 old pennies from 5 different monarchs are these worth anything.
I also have a King Charles 1st silver shilling.
I also have a non dated 20p piece
All with certificates
Where is britania 2015 and 16 on the chart??
Hi Holly, if you have a read of the blog we mention that this was intentional due to it being a definitive design and not commemorative, you can also see the mintage figures. Thanks Luke
Thankyou I see that now 🙂
Amazing work! I’m very pleased to see finally the 2008 £1 Royal Arms on the chart, my personal nemesis. Also, would it be possible to differentiate between 4th and 5th portraits? I noticed the Royal Mint has no mintage for the 2015 50p Royal Shield – 5th portrait, what’s up with that?
The 2015 Britannia is missing from the £2 coin list I’m sure that was 650000 the same as the navy
Hi David, well done for spotting this, if you have a read of the blog, we mention that this was intentional due to it being a definitive design and not commemorative, you can also see the mintage figures. Thanks Luke
Not really a satisfactory answer. The heading is “How Rare is my …”. Most definatives were minted in very high numbers but the point is, for fun collectors, to look for those rare definitive years and if you include them then you will only increase the interest! Perhaps if you put it to a vote?
Hi Alan, Thanks for your message. We accept your point and will look at including the coin in future charts. Thanks Luke