Posts by Change Checker
Preparing for change – what happens to UK coins and banknotes
Queen Elizabeth II was our longest reigning monarch – appearing on our UK coinage since 1953.
All 29 billion coins currently in circulation in the UK have Queen Elizabeth II’s effigy on the obverse.
As the nation prepares for a new monarch, questions are being asked about what happens to our UK coins and banknotes.
What happens to UK coins and banknotes with Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait and how long will they remain in circulation?
What happens to British Isles and Commonwealth coinage with Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait on it?
What do I need to do with my QEII coins and banknotes?
When will the King’s coinage start circulating in the UK?
Which direction will the King’s portrait face on our UK coins?
Will there be a new obverse designer on the coinage of the King?
What will King Charles III’s Royal Cypher look like?
Find, Collect, and Swap the coins in your change
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
Your top Winnie the Pooh 50p revealed!
Now that the Winnie the Pooh 50p Collection has concluded, with the 2022 UK Winnie the Pooh and Friends 50p, we wanted to know what your favourite design is!
And the results are in!
Coming out on top spot is the 2022 Winnie the Pooh and Friends 50p, taking 31% of the votes!
Issued in 2022, this coin features a design of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore, just as we remember them from A. A. Milne’s original books. The charming original illustrations from E. H. Shepard feature on all the 50p coins in the Winnie the Pooh coin collection.
These 50ps have been some of the most popular and in-demand coins of recent years, with thousands of collectors missing out on securing them in precious metal specifications.
Furthermore, the 2020 Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, and Piglet 50p coins are no longer available at The Royal Mint, in any specifications.
Change Checker has a limited number of the 2020 Winnie the Pooh 50p coins remaining for collectors.
Fill the gaps in your collection before it’s too late! Click here to browse the complete Winnie the Pooh 50p range >>
Where did your favourite Winnie the Pooh 50p place in our vote? Let us know in the comments below!
Fill the gaps in your Winnie the Pooh 50p collection!
NEW 50p ENTRANTS and HUGE shake-ups! Your latest 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!
Our 50p Index sees TWO new entrants with the issue of Platinum Jubilee and Pride 50ps into circulation, with our £2 and 10p Indexes both seeing HUGE shake-ups.
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
As we received updated mintage figures for the Pride and Platinum Jubilee 50p coins, they also made their debut in our 50p Index!
Ahead of the Platinum Jubilee weekend, the Royal Mint issued a further 1 million Platinum Jubilee 50p coins into circulation, meaning there are now 2.3 million out there for Change Checkers to find!
To celebrate 50 years since the first UK Pride Event, a brand new Pride 50p was issued into circulation, with a circulating mintage of 5 million!
As more Change Checkers find these coins in their change, it’ll be great to see how their position on our 50p Index shapes up.
Other key movers include the Triathlon 50p, which has climbed 5 places, now sitting in second place on our Scarcity Index.
The Paddington at the Palace 50p has also climbed an impressive 14 places. It seems Paddington’s appearance at Her Majesty’s Party at the Palace has driven up the collectability of this coin!
A-Z 10p Index
This quarter, the Robin 10p takes the top spot again after climbing 3 places! Just 284,000 of these 10p coins were issued between 2018 and 2019, making it one of the rarest 10p coins out there!
Looking elsewhere on the index, the Fish and Chips 10p has climbed 8 spots. With all the recent lovely sunshine we’ve been treated to, it seems that collectors are on the hunt for their favourite seaside treat!
Other key movers include the Postbox and Union Jack 10p coins, which have moved 8 and 9 places respectively.
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!
£2 Scarcity Index
There’s been a huge shake-up to our £2 Scarcity Index this quarter with the Commonwealth Games Wales £2 bumping back up into the top five.
The Wireless Transmission £2 coin has also made a climb up the board (by 14 places). As 4,558,000 have entered circulation since 1997, it can be quite a task to find one in your change. Have you got this coin in your collection?
Other coins to watch include the DNA £2, which has climbed by 5 places, and the Britannia £2, which climbed by 4.
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.
Receive new UK coins without the hassle of placing orders on the day of release!
Join the Change Checker UK CERTIFIED BU Subscription Service and receive new UK coins sent to your door without the hassle of placing orders on the day of release!
Don’t miss your chance to get ahead of the crowd and be one of the very first collectors to receive the latest UK new issue coins as soon as possible after their release.