Rarest UK Coins Revealed! 2020 Mintage Figure Update
One of the biggest numismatic updates of the year comes when the latest mintage figures are announced and today we are very excited to share the updated figures for 2020 circulation coins, which have just been revealed by The Royal Mint!
As the UK’s most collected coin, it’s great to hear that three 50p designs were released into circulation last year. These include the Withdrawal from the European Union 50p, the Diversity Built Britain 50p and this year’s Royal Shield 50p.
We’ve updated the Change Checker 50p Mintage Chart with these new additions to show you which 50ps you should be looking out for:
The rarest of the trio to be released is the Withdrawal from the EU 50p, commonly known as the Brexit 50p, with a circulating mintage of 10,001,000. This is closely followed by the Diversity Built Britain 50p with a mintage of 10,300,000.
These numbers are fairly high for commemorative coins, meaning collectors stand a good chance of finding these ones in their change. What’s more, at 46,540,375 coins in circulation, we expect many collectors to be able to find the 2020 definitive Royal Shield design – just make sure you keep checking the dates on the reverse of your 50ps!
Are you lucky enough to have these in your collection? Let us know in the comments below!
The Royal Mint’s Director of UK Currency, Mark Loveridge, said: “As the original maker of UK coins, we are delighted to play our part in celebrating the story of the nation. In 2020 two important new designs were issued on fifty pences, commemorating British diversity and the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union. Coin collecting remains a popular hobby in the UK, and finding a special design in your change adds to the excitement.”
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. See the full mintage figures for these coins here.
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 in 2020.
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.
It was recently confirmed that The Royal Mint has no plans to strike any £2 coins for circulation for the next 10 years, so unfortunately, there may not be any mintage updates for this denomination for a while.
Whilst 88,071,910 1p coins were released in 2020, no 2p coins have entered circulation since 2018, perhaps suggesting it’s time we question what the future has in store for our beloved coppers.
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 this 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
Hi I have this coin in mint condition 2020 Withdrawal from the EU how much is it worth thank you
Unfortunately Change Checker is unable to provide valuations on coins. We’d recommend checking secondary market sites such as eBay where you’ll be able to get a good indication for how much your coin is currently selling for.
Thanks,
Alex
I have now managed to collect every50p coin
I thought
Now I find there is a 2009 blue Peter high jump one gggggrrrrrrr….. lol
Looks like I’m on the hunt again
Good fun though
Hi Mark
There is also 14, yes 14 proof 50 p coins that are far more rare than the standard KEW GARDENS,
How many UK 50p do you have ? I think I have them all and that’s 184.
Les.
According to the mintage figures there are over 46M 2020 50ps in circulation. Really? I haven’t found one and I have literally scoped hundreds, if not thousands of pounds worth of 50ps from bank bags over the last nine months. I have more Jemima and Newton 50ps than 2020 50ps.
Hi Rachel
As always great information on the coins, for the beginners and the seasoned collectors we all get something from its so please keep it coming and well done to all at Change Checkers.
Les
I have both 2020 Withdrawl from EU and the 2020 Diversity Built Britain 50p coins in my possesion.
I have a loads of these sort of coins and wondering how much they are worth?
Hi Gavin, whilst we don’t offer valuations, you can use our 6 point guide to help determine a realistic value for your coins: https://www.changechecker.org/2018/08/02/could-i-be-minted-the-6-point-guide-to-valuing-your-coin/
Great blog Rachel as usual for all the information and mintage figures,but if you were to add the large 50ps to the mintage figures which I know you don’t,the 3rd rarest 50p coin would unbelievably be the 1985 large 50p brittania which out of every 50p ever minted this has a mintage figure of only 685,000 making it 3rd rarest behind the Kew gardens 50p and the large EEC 1993 50p coin,I’ve noticed on the updated £2 coin scarcity index there are still no mintage figures for the Jane Austen £2 and the aviation £2 coins do you have any information on the mintage figures on these coins Rachel or will we have to wait for the Royal Mint to publish the mintage figures,thanks paul..
Hi Paul, yes some of those out of circulation 50ps are very rare indeed! You’re very lucky if you have any in your collection. Unfortunately the Jane Austen and Aviation £2 coins never entered circulation, so we don’t have mintage figures for these.
there is an error in your info, it says there are no 1p coins since 2018 but that’s not true. i have a few 2020 1p coins.
Hi Michael, good spot! No 2p coins have entered circulation since 2018, but 88,071,910 1p coins were released last year. The blog has now been updated.
I have a 2021 2p coin found in my change a few weeks ago, maybe some have been released this year.
The 2017 coins entered circulation this year
The biggest problem are the really scarce coins – those that are minted for sale with no intention to be released into circulation. The only way to obtain these coins is to pay many times their face value. I know that Westminster Collection sell fifty pences at less than half the cost of the royal mint but it is still very expensive, particularly as many young people started as change checkers, believing they would be able to continue their collections by finding the coins in their change. It has rather taken the fun out of collecting
Hi Clive, it really is a shame that less coins have entered circulation in recent years. To help collectors have the chance to still own the latest coins for face value (just like finding them in your chance) we do offer the Change Checker Face Value Coin Ballot, which you can find out about here: https://www.changechecker.org/2019/05/01/your-chance-to-own-the-latest-uk-new-issue-50p-and-2-coins-for-face-value/
Do you know if there were any 2020 £1 coins put into circulation? Many thanks
Hi Anthony, 55,840,169 Nations of the Crown £1 coins entered circulation in 2020.
What ever happened to the website where you could swap coins with other collectors?
You can use the Change Checker swap centre here: https://www.changechecker.org/swaps.aspx
What £2 coins should i look ou for as I have loads a lot of the first ones that came out an several others
Hi William, you can find our £2 mintage chart here: https://www.changechecker.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Change-Checker-Graph-Definitive-Mintage-2-pound.png
Hi William do you have a spare Claim of Rights £2 it is the only on that I haven’t got I have tried to swap numerous times but have not had any luck.
I have a lot of spare coins if you need anything.
Regards Barry
Hi. What about the 2010 Olympic 50p that was only issued in sets. Has this mintage figure be announced?
Hi Shaun, in 2009 there was a version of the Athletics 50p released in Blue Peter sets, however we do not have official confirmation of the mintage.
Sorry I meant the 2020 Olympic 50p not 2010. Is the mintage for this available please?
Hi Shaun, the 2020 Team GB 50p was only issued as part of the Annual Coin set and was not individually released until 2021. As it hasn’t been released into circulation we won’t have mintage figures for this one.
I have 2 x Peace prosperity and Friendship with all nations and 1 x DIVERSITY BUILT BRITAIN.
I have 2 sealed bags of 2021 2p coins will these become valuable
I’ve been waiting a whole year for this.
Hi ya probably got 45 diversity including a full bag unopened of 20 coins which I had of eBay for £22.00 + £3.50 delivery which was a good deal and about 30 brexit coins thanks Nigel
Good info as always thank you. ✌️