Posts by Kate
Look out – Three Ice Age Giants Come Back to Life on UK Coins!
The Ice Age Giants Collection is the latest addition in the Tales of the Earth Series, featuring three brand new UK 50ps, each designed to bring prehistoric creatures back to life!
The Tales of the Earth series as a whole is dedicated to celebrating ancient life on our planet, offering collectors a glimpse into a world that existed thousands of years ago, and the Ice Age Giants 50ps take us all the way back to the Ice Age.
2024 UK Giant Deer 50p
The third and final Ice Age Giants 50p features the majestic Giant Deer, which lived in warmer climates than the other beasts that have features in the series. The design was created by paleo-artist Robert Nicholls, who had expert guidance from a paleo-biologist at the Natural History Museum, Professor Adrian Lister.
A skeleton of the giant deer can be seen at the bottom of the design, including the distinctive hump and incredible antlers, which could measure up to 12 feet across!
Did you know?
Giant deer (part of the Megaloceros genus) had the largest antlers of any known species, dead or alive.
Secure the 2024 UK Giant Deer 50p >>
2024 UK Woolly Rhino 50p
The second Ice Age Giant to feature in this series is the mighty Woolly Rhino. Just like the Steppe Mammoth 50p, the Woolly Rhino 50p was also designed by Robert Nicholls and the Natural History Museum – so you know every detail is scientifically accurate.
A common feature on every coin in the Tales of the Earth series is a skeleton in the foreground, and the Woolly Rhino 50p is no exception, with its impressive horn and unusual ribcage.
Did you know?
The scientific name for the woolly rhinoceros is Coelodonta antiquitatis, which means ‘cavity tooth’. The inscription COELODONTA features across the top of the coin’s design.
Secure the 2024 UK Woolly Rhino 50p >>
2024 UK Mammoth 50p
Designed by renowned paleo-artist Robert Nicholls in collaboration with the Natural History Museum, the reverse design on the 2024 UK Mammoth 50p captures the awe-inspiring presence of this extinct giant in intricate detail.
In the centre of the design, the Steppe Mammoth faces us head on, with its huge curved tusks, colossal trunk and thick fur. If you look closely, you’ll also see a scientifically accurate illustration of a Steppe Mammoth skeleton in the foreground of the design.
Did you know?
The Steppe Mammoth was the largest mammoth species to ever walk the earth, reaching heights of 14 feet and weighing 10 tonnes! Like many other Ice Age giants, the Steppe Mammoth went extinct around 200,000 years ago. The reasons for their extinction are still debated, but it’s likely due to a combination of climate change and competition with other species for resources.
Secure the 2024 UK Mammoth 50p for your collection >>
Complete your Ice Age Giants Collection
You can secure the 2024 UK Giant Deer 50p for your collection now for just £5.99 (+p&p) >>
Secure the Steppe Mammoth 50p >>
Secure the Woolly Rhino 50p >>
NEW UK Snowman™ 50p just released! How much could your festive 50p be worth?
A UK 50p coin has been issued every year since 2018 featuring The Snowman™, and it’s even become a festive tradition – it just doesn’t feel like Christmas until the new UK The Snowman™ 50p is released!
Each year, these coins prove incredibly popular with collectors, and even now, 6 years after the first coin was released, some of the previous Snowman™ 50ps are selling on the secondary market for up to 22 times their face value! Check out our Snowman™ 50p eBay Tracker below.
This year’s The Snowman™ coin is sure to warm the hearts of collectors and fans of the stories, with an adorable design featuring The Snowman™ placing the star on top of a Christmas tree.
Available now in superior Brilliant Uncirculated quality, you can add this brand new UK 50p to your collection in time for Christmas here >>
The Story of The Snowman™ on Coins!
The Snowman™ first appeared on a UK 50p back in 2018 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Raymond Briggs’ much-loved festive tale. Since then, we’ve seen a Snowman™ 50p issued each year, making this year’s release the 7th coin in the series.
Over the years, we’ve been treated to some of the most iconic scenes on The Snowman™ coins, taken from the original tale and even the 2012 film, The Snowman™ and The Snowdog™. The Snowman™ and the young boy, James, have previously been seen flying through the night sky, dancing in the snow and sharing adventures, and we even saw The Snowdog™ make an appearance on the 2022 The Snowman™ and Snowdog™ 50p!
Unsurprisingly, the Snowman™ coins prove to be some of the most popular releases each year and some of them can set you back hefty sums on the secondary market.
How much is my The Snowman™ 50p worth?
We took the median price from the last 9 sold eBay listings for each previous UK The Snowman™ 50p to give you an idea of how much it might be worth on the secondary market. By taking the median price, rather than an average, we avoid skewing figures with excessively high or low prices.
As you can see, some of the first The Snowman™ 50ps can fetch a pretty penny on the secondary market, with the 2018 and 2019 editions selling for up to 21 times their face value! If this data is anything to go by, the 2024 The Snowman™ 50p is sure to be popular with collectors.
Secure your 2024 UK The Snowman™ 50p for just £5.99 (+p&p) >>
Or if you’re looking for the perfect festive gift for a loved one, check out the Change Checker Christmas range >>
Own your 2024 UK The Snowman™ 50p in time for Christmas
You can bet this latest coin will be at the top of every collector’s wish list this year, so whether you’re a collector of the Snowman™ 50ps yourself, or you think it’d make the perfect gift for a loved one in our bespoke Christmas Card, you can shop the range here >>
First King Charles III Definitive Coins enter circulation – 2023 Mintage Figures announced!
Each year, one of the biggest numismatic updates comes when the latest mintage figures are announced, and The Royal Mint have just revealed the mintages of all coins that entered circulation in 2023! Every year, when this information is released, we update our Change Checker Mintage charts to see where new circulating coins rank.
Excitingly, in 2023 we saw the very first King Charles III definitive coins start to enter circulation, kicking off with the Atlantic Salmon 50p, which knocked the Kew Gardens 50p off the top spot as Britain’s new rarest 50p!
But the Salmon 50p wasn’t the only new coin that entered our change last year…
50p Mintage Figures
It’s the 2023 Salmon 50p that’s been hitting the headlines due to its incredibly low mintage of just 200,000, making it even rarer than the Kew Gardens 50p which has now been bumped down to 2nd place on our mintage chart.
The Salmon 50p wasn’t the only new 50p to enter circulation in 2023, as the Coronation 50p also made it’s way into our change.
On 10th August 2023, 5 million King Charles III Coronation 50ps entered circulation and we opened our collector map to find out where in the country they were popping up.
From the map data, we put together a list of the Top 5 places where you’re most likely to find a Coronation 50p in your change, and Birmingham came out on top with 5.1% of Coronation 50ps being found there! You can check out where else they were being found here >>
£2 Mintage Figures
Since 2016, no new commemorative £2 coins have entered circulation, and in 2023, there were also no new definitive £2s put into circulation.
The only denominations from the New UK Coinage featuring King Charles III that haven’t yet entered circulation are the Flowers of the Four Nations £2 and the Red Squirrel 2p, so the circulating £2 coin drought continues!
As nothing has changed on the £2 mintage figure chart this year, the 2002 Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games £2 remains the rarest £2 coin in circulation, with a mintage of just 485,000.
2023 Definitives
Usually, the mintage figures for definitive coins are somewhat less exciting than the commemorative coins entering circulation, as the designs have remained the same for the last 16 years. However, the 2023 mintages are particularly interesting as they confirm how many of the very first King Charles III definitive coins entered circulation!
Although we’ve already spoken about the Salmon 50p and its shockingly low mintage, we’ll still include it here as it is technically a definitive coin design.
- Hazel Dormouse 1p: 600,000
- Red Squirrel 2p: 0
- Oak 5p: 32,400,000
- Capercaillie 10p: 600,000
- Puffin 20p: 525,000
- Salmon 50p: 200,000
- Bee £1: 10,030,000
- Flowers of the Nations £2: 0
Interestingly, this makes the 2023 dated 1p, 10p and 20p the rarest coins of their denominations since decimalisation (with the exception of the 2018 and 2019 A-Z 10p coins)!
Considering this, 2023 dated coins are sure to go down in history as some of the most sought after circulating coins, so keep an eye out for them in your change!
It’s always exciting when new mintage figures are revealed, especially when it brings an end to the previous rarest UK 50p’s 15-year reign!
Have you been lucky enough to find a 2023 Salmon 50p in your change? If you’re still searching, don’t forget you can secure the Brilliant Uncirculated version as part of the New UK Coinage set. What’s more, the coins in this set feature a special privy mark which sets them aside from the ones you’ll find in your change.
