Posts Tagged ‘Coin Collecting’
The coin with three dates – The Brexit 50p
Following a referendum in 2016, the United Kingdom officially withdrew from the European Union on 31st January 2020. This departure was one of the most significant events to happen in modern history, and Brexit 50p coin was issued to commemorate it.
The withdrawal faced several delays and deferrals, leading to the Brexit 50p – also referred to as the UK Withdrawal from the EU 50p – being produced with THREE different dates and TWO different obverses!
Read on to find out more…
29th March 2019 Brexit 50p
In 2018, it was announced that a UK Brexit 50p would be issued to mark the withdrawal, and the Treasury posted the design on X (then Twitter). The revealed that the coin would feature the words ‘Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations’ and the date ’29 March 2019′ – the original intended date of withdrawal.
Reportedly, 1,000 Brexit 50ps with the date 29th March 2019 were struck. However, following the deferral of Brexit until October 2019, 990 of these coins were melted down, leaving 10 remaining that are kept under lock and key at The Royal Mint, so it’s impossible to find one in your change.
31st October 2019 Brexit 50p
As the government worked towards the withdrawal on 31st October 2019, the Brexit 50p design was revised to feature the new date. The Royal Mint got to work on striking over a million coins featuring the inscription ’31 October 2019′.
Image credit: Lee Holt, Change Range
On 28th October 2019, the day before Brexit was due to go ahead, it was announced that it would be delayed yet again until 31st January 2020. Therefore, the majority of Brexit 50ps that has been struck featuring the date ’31 October 2019′ had to be melted. These coins were never distributed for circulation by The Royal Mint, however two have been found in circulation.
Lucky collector, Lee Holt, was the first to find a Brexit 50p with the date ’31 October 2019′ (pictured above), and a second was found in 2024 by an anonymous collector.
Two different obverses
What makes this even more interesting is that the two Brexit 50ps with the date ’31 October 2019′ that have been found feature two different obverses!
The obverse on Lee’s coin features Jody Clark’s portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, the year 2019 and the denomination ’50 PENCE’.
Image credit: Lee Holt, Change Range
However, the obverse of the other 31 October 2019 Brexit 50p found (pictured below) is missing the denomination.
Image credit: Lee Holt, Change Range
It’s likely that this coin was struck using the obverse die intended for the 2019 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 50p, as the denomination features on the reverse of that coin. Coins must state both the date and denomination on either the obverse or reverse, so reverse designs that feature the denomination do not need to include the denomination on the obverse.
Worth a small fortune
A numismatic specialist at Spink and Son auction house, Gregory Edmund, described the discovery of the two October 2019 dated Brexit 50ps as a ‘Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket moment’ and said it was ‘truly electrifying for business’. Gregory said that if the coins were to go up for auction, he would expect them to fetch more than the current Spink & Son record for a circulating coin, which was when a gold 1965 halfpenny with an error sold for £42,000 in 2023.
I’m sure those collectors who have discovered this incredibly rare coin aren’t willing to sell them any time soon, but with an estimated value of more than £42,000 – it’s definitely tempting!
31st January 2020 Brexit 50p
Due to another deferral, The Royal Mint had to once again revise the design of the Brexit 50p to feature the new date ’31 January 2020′.
It was this version of the coin that was finally produced in line with Brexit taking place on 31st January 2020, and 10,001,000 of them entered circulation.
So how rare is the Brexit 50p?
Our latest 50p mintage figure chart shows that the Brexit 50p/UK Withdrawal from the EU 50p with the correct date ’31 January 2020′ ranks a fair way down the list, meaning it’s not particularly rare.
The 2020 Brexit 50p also ranks as ‘common’ on our Scarcity Index, which combines a coin’s mintage figure with with how many collectors have listed the coin as being in their collection on the Change Checker App, and the number of times the coin has been requested as a swap on our Swap Centre.
Check out our latest Scarcity Index >>
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What would you put on our UK Coinage?
It’s been over a year since the New UK Coinage for King Charles III was released, featuring 8 brand new designs from the 1p to the £2!
Since the designs were revealed, the Salmon 50p and the Bee £1 have entered circulation and collectors have been rushing to find them in their change – especially the 2023 Salmon 50p which is now the UK’s rarest 50p!
New UK Coinage: British Flora and Fauna
Each of the new coins featured not only a new obverse design of King Charles III, but new reverse designs paying tribute to iconic British wildlife. His Majesty is known for his keen interest in wildlife conservation and plant life, and this passion was a key inspiration for The Royal Mint when designing the UK’s new coinage.
But we want to know, if you were to design the UK’s new coinage, what would you put on them?
Have your say
We’d love to know what you think of the 8 new designs that we’ll eventually see replace our current circulating coinage, which current coins you’ll miss the most and of course, what you’d put on our UK coinage!
Perhaps you’re a keen churchgoer and would select some of the UK’s most iconic churches to feature on our coins? Or maybe you’d have each coin celebrating a quintessential British food? The choice is yours!
Feeling creative? Feel free to download our blank coin template to to bring your designs to life. You can email them to [email protected] – we’d love to see them!
Your designs shared!
We’ll be sharing your ideas and designs on this blog, so keep an eye out for updates on our socials.
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Instagram – @changechecker
X – @ChangeChecker
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YouTube – Change Checker
Could your £1 coin be worth 10 times its face value? The rarest £1 coin revealed
From 1983 until 2017, there were 25 different round pound coin designs issued, until they were removed from circulation in 2017 and replaced by the 12-sided bimetallic £1 coin that we use today. And in 2024 we saw the very first £1 coin featuring King Charles III enter circulation with the Bee £1! But out of all the designs issued over the last 42 years, which is the rarest £1?
£1 Mintage Figures
Scarcity cannot be determined on mintage figures alone, so we created our Scarcity Index which combines this with real collector demand, measured by Change Checker swap data. Our £1 Scarcity Index was set in stone in 2017 following the withdrawal of round pounds from circulation, which you can see here >>
Rarity, however, relates to how many of each coin design were in circulation for collectors to find. And whilst all round £1 coins are no longer in circulation, we can still look at their mintage figures to determine which would have been the hardest to come across.
The rarest £1 coin design
With a shockingly low mintage of just 935,000, the 2011 Scotland: Edinburgh City claims the title of rarest £1 UK coin design!
At just shy of 1 million, you might think the mintage doesn’t seem particularly low, however when compared to the Royal Arms £1 which has a total mintage of 623,304,510 across the years it was issued (1983, 1993, 2003 and 2008) – you would have had to be incredibly lucky to find one in your change!
This coin was part of the Capital Cities series which featured four designs, each representing one of the constituent countries. The reverse designs, by Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Queen, Stuart Devlin all feature the official badges of the capital cities of the United Kingdom, the Scotland: Edinburgh City £1 featuring Edinburgh Castle and rock in the centre, with three flags flying from the towers.
The Wales: Cardiff City £1 comes in second place with a mintage of 1,615,000 and the England: London City £1 is the third rarest with a mintage of 2,635,000. So the Capital City series is sure to be a popular ones with collectors looking for a rare gem!
How much is an Edinburgh £1 worth?
Although round pound coins were withdrawn from circulation in 2017, it was reported in 2020 that almost 170 million round £1 coins didn’t make it back to the Royal Mint. So whilst they’re no longer legal tender, they can technically still be found in your change!
And if you have an Edinburgh £1 in your collection, it could fetch you a pretty penny on the secondary market.
A look at recent sold listings on eBay revealed that a 2011 Scotland: Edinburgh City £1 could fetch you up to £9.99, almost 10 times its face value!
Do you have any rare round pound coins in your collection? Let us know in the comments!
Gaps in your round pound collection?
If you’re missing any of the 25 round pound designs, our Mystery Round Pound bundle is the best way to fill any gaps. Each bundle includes 3 random round pounds, meaning you’ll have all the fun of a coin hunt, plus you can save up to 17% compared to buying them individually!
Try your hand at our Mystery Round Pound Bundle for just £20 post free! >>