Posts Tagged ‘Rare coin’
A guide to collecting the UK’s rarest circulating coins
After the interest in last week’s charts, I thought I would go into a little more detail about the coins which came out on top – because when it comes to collecting, there is one fact which is always inevitable – the rarest coins are always in highest demand.
So which coins in your pocket are the rare ones?
- Fifty Pence coins
The Kew Gardens 50p is the rarest coin in circulation
Where else to start but the Kew Gardens 50p? As any change checker knows, it is the rarest coin currently in circulation, with just 210,000 struck. To put that in perspective – the next scarcest designs are the 2003 Suffragettes and 2011 WWF 50ps respectively with a mintage of just over 3 million apiece. The famous Chinese Pagoda of the gardens features on the reverse of the coin and is definitely worth looking for in your change. It remains the Holy Grail of circulation coins eluding even the keenest of collectors.
- Olympic Fifty Pence series
The ‘Offside Rule’ Football design is the rarest in the Olympic 50p series
In celebration of London 2012, the Royal Mint issued a series of 29 different 50p designs – each representing a sport from either the Olympic or Paralympic Games. They have gone on to become some of the most highly sought-after coins and are still frequently hoarded from circulation. The ‘Offside rule’ Football 50p had everyone talking about its innovative design, but it also holds the title of the Olympic 50p with the lowest mintage. Only 1,125,500 were struck, which is marginally more than the Triathlon and Judo designs which are the next rarest in the series.
- One Pound coins
The Edinburgh design is the £1 with the lowest mintage
The £1 coin has not traditionally been a place for one-off commemorative designs, but themes have followed a similar pattern over the years, with the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom being represented in cycles. In recent years, the mintage of commemorative £1 coins has dropped off considerably, and the capital cities series is currently the most scarce. The 2011 Edinburgh design is the only £1 coin with a mintage below 1 million and the Cardiff and London issues follow closely behind. By way of comparison, there were over 443 million Royal Arms Shield £1 coins issued in 1983 alone.
- Two Pound coins
The 2002 Commonwealth Games N.Ireland is the rarest £2 in circulation, but it can be tricky to spot!
The 2002 Commonwealth Games £2 designs are notoriously difficult to find. There are four different versions, all similar, but with a different flag to represent each of the four constituent countries of the UK. You’ll need to look very closely at each flag to know which version you’ve got. The Northern Ireland design is the rarest £2 coin in circulation – only 485,500 were struck. The other three in the series are similarly scarce, so finding any Commonwealth Games £2 in your change is an achievement! Other £2 coins worthy of note include the three Olympic-themed designs; 2008 Handover, 2008 Centenary and 2012 Handover which also have mintages of less than one million.
So the next time you’re flicking through your coins, remember – all coins are not created equal! There are some you should count yourself lucky to have, and if you come across any of the rare coins mentioned in this post – it might just be worth hanging on to them!
Collect your coins with Change Checker
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Do you own the rarest UK coins in circulation?
Earlier this year I made some charts about Britain’s rarest circulating coins. They proved really popular on our Facebook page, so I thought I’d bring them all together for you here in one blog post.
How many of these rare coins do you have in your collection?
There were only 485,500 Northern Ireland 2002 Commonwealth Games £2 coins minted, that’s just 0.1% of all the £2 coins ever struck to date!
The rarest £1 coin is the 2011 Edinburgh design. Could it be worth something one day?
Olympic 50ps have long been a favourite amongst collectors, but did you know there are only 1,125,500 Football fifty pence pieces? It’s definitely the rare one to look out for!
Last but definitely not least, the Kew Gardens 50p steals the show. Just 210,000 were struck and they made headlines earlier in the year when a handful reached a valuation of over £100 on eBay – surely making them some of Britain’s most valuable circulating coins (for now at least!)
So remember to keep checking your change – you just might own one of the UK’s rarest coins!
If you’ve found some of the coins mentioned in these charts, why not list them in your online collection at www.changechecker.org – you can even swap with your fellow Change Checkers to complete your collection!
This 50p just sold for £820.00
Finding a coin which is worth a small fortune is the stuff of dreams for every Change Checker. You may remember the excitement over the rarity of the Kew Gardens 50p earlier this year and the bidding frenzy that occurred on eBay shortly afterwards.
Well now there is a coin which has eclipsed the Kew Gardens, both in terms of scarcity, and the sheer scale of money changing hands.
This week, a UK 50 pence piece sold on eBay for £820. Or to put it another way, 1,640 times its face value!
It appears to be an ordinary Aquatics Olympic 50p at first glance, but this coin has a special quality which collectors desire more than anything else: an error.
And the good news is, there are more out there to be found!
The rare Aquatics Olympic 50p sold on eBay this week for £820.00
In 2011 the Aquatics Olympic 50p depicting a swimmer underwater was redesigned by the Royal Mint to make the swimmer’s face more visible. However, before the change was made, a small number of coins were struck with the original design.
The coin on the left is the rare original design, with waves passing over the swimmer’s face
The added sense of excitement and anticipation over this particular error is that nobody knows exactly how many of the original coins were ever struck.
Their rare appearance at auction (and only so far in their original packaging) along with the astronomical amounts which buyers are happy to pay, supports the theory that there are very few around.
The 29 Olympic designs are now commonplace in our day-to-day life, so this coin ultimately is just a normal 50p which you would happily pass over the counter to pay for something. Blink and you would miss that small detail which is worth so much to coin collectors.
But the Aquatics Olympic 50p error is the latest example of why you should always carefully check what’s in your change – there really could be treasure hidden in your pocket!
Do you have an Aquatics Olympic 50p?
You can add it to your collection on the Change Checker App here