Posts Tagged ‘Rare Olympic 50ps’
Breakfast (10p) is served! Your 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! As we’ve been able to go out and spend more cash in recent months, how has this impacted our Scarcity Index?
Well there’s been lots of movement across all of our indexes, as new trends have been exposed and one particular coin has moved an impressive 16 spaces!
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.
A-Z 10p Scarcity Index
It’s English Breakfast time this quarter as this 10p has climbed a huge 16 places on our A-Z 10p Index! This is definitely the one to watch
Whilst the top 8 spots have stayed the same, there have been some really big movers towards the middle and lower half of the table. The Ice Cream and X Marks The Spot 10ps have both dropped 10 and 13 places respectfully, with other big movers including the Union Jack 10p (dropping nine places) and the Fish and Chips 10p (climbing eight places).
All of the lower mintage A-Z 10ps have remained strong at the top of the index; the Y, Z, and W 10ps all have a 2019 mintage of JUST 63,000 so it would take some doing to beat them to the top…
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!
Find out which A-Z 10p coins have the lowest mintages here >>
50p Scarcity Index
We’ve had a shake up at the top of our 50p Index this quarter, with the Judo 50p being bumped down two spaces from second to fourth spot.
Last quarter our top six 50ps hadn’t moved but this quarter we’ve seen Football climb back to second spot for the first time in three quarters!
There’s also been a lot of shuffling in the middle and lower parts of the index, with Roger Bannister climbing an impressive 10 spots and Handball dropping seven.
The ones to watch are definitely Pentathlon (having climbed 10 places last quarter and a further six this quarter) and Shooting, which climbed two places last quarter and a further two places this quarter. We’re excited to see how these coins place in our next update…
£2 Scarcity Index
Whilst the Commonwealth Games £2 coins have remained consistent at the top of our Index, we’ve now got our Olympic trio sitting beneath, with the Olympic Centenary climbing 3 places and the London 2012 Handover and Olympic Handover £2 coins coming in behind.
After climbing 8 places last quarter, the Florence Nightingale has dropped back down again to the bottom of the Index.
The First World War (Kitchener) £2 has climbed up a space after also climbing two spaces last quarter, so this could be one to watch over the coming months…
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.
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Do you own the rarest Olympic 50p?
In 2011, 29 50p coins were released ahead of the 2012 London Olympics and millions rose to the challenge of collecting them all. For many, this marked the start of their interest in coins.
The Royal Mint now estimates that as many as 75% of the Olympic 50p coins have been removed from circulation by collectors, which is a testament to their popularity.
But which Olympic 50ps do you need to look out for…
2009 Athletics Olympic 50p
In 2009, two years before the 29-coin Olympic 50p series was released, nine-year old Florence Jackson became the youngest person to design a coin for circulation in the UK. Her Athletics Olympic 50p design was the ultimate winner of a Blue Peter competition.
Although you may recognise this coin, you may not know that a rare version of this coin exists. When the competition winner was revealed, only 100,000 special edition Blue Peter coin packs were released with a 2009 dated coin – making it the only Olympic 50p without a 2011 date.
That makes this 2009 Athletics Olympic 50p more than twice as rare as the famous Kew Gardens 50p.
Which Olympic 50p is the rarest?
Did you know that only 1,125,500 Football fifty pence pieces entered circulation? It’s definitely the rarest one to look out for and tops our chart as having the smallest mintage figures, which means it is even harder to find than the others.
Although the Olympic Football 50p holds the smallest mintage figure, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always going to be the most sought-after Olympic 50p. To determine just how scarce and sought-after your coins are, check out our Scarcity Index.
The withdrawn Aquatics ‘error’ Olympic 50p
The Aquatics 50p which we are familiar with today is actually a modified version which removed the waves passing over the swimmer’s face.
Despite the original design being adapted early on – there are still a few of the original coins in circulation.
Although the exact quantity of the original Aquatics design remains a mystery, we know it’s not unusual for these special coins to exchange hands for close to £1000… not a bad return on a 50p coin!
The rarest of the series
It is without doubt that the gold versions of each 50p remain the rarest of the collection.
Unfortunately for collectors, obtaining one of these is nearly impossible as only one gold version of each design was presented to the respective winning designer.
Aside from the precious metal content, their unique status and significance rank them as potentially the most valuable UK 50p coins in existence.
Is this the 30th Olympic 50p?
To the delight of many Olympic 50p collectors, in 2016 The Royal Mint issued a special 50p to wish Team GB success for the Rio Games.
The coin’s obverse features a swimmer with the Team GB logo, the Olympic rings and the inscription ‘TEAM GB’. Designed by Tim Sharp, the coin has been officially endorsed by Team GB and celebrates the spirit of British Olympians.
Although the 2016 Team GB 50p isn’t part of the 29-coin Olympic 50p series, it’s become known as the ‘unofficial 30th Olympic 50p’ – a must have for all Olympic 50p Collectors.
Dual-Dated Team GB 50p
Back in 2020, collectors were delighted by the announcement of the new Team GB 50p, released as part of the 2020 Annual Coin Set to celebrate Team GB’s participation in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the postponement of the Olympic Games to 2021, this 50p was never individually released in 2020.
Excitingly, this means that there are two versions of the coin – one with the obverse dated 2020 from the 2020 Annual Coin Set and one with the obverse dated 2021 from the individual release.
What’s more, this makes the 2021 UK Team GB 50p one of only a small handful of UK 50ps to feature a dual-date – only adding to its collectability!
Complete your 50p collection