UPDATE: How rare is my coin? The complete Change Checker guide to UK coin mintages

In 2016, we took a look at the mintage figures of all 50p, £1 and £2 coins that have been released. As always, ‘The Change Checker guide to UK coin mintages’ is THE place to check how rare your coins are! Here are the charts listing each coin in order of its rarity.

 

 

The Kew Gardens 50p coin remains top of the chart and doesn’t look as though it’ll be shifted any time soon!

Due to the high number of commemorative designs, no definitive design 50p coins were struck for circulation in 2016. Of those commemorative designs, the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit 50p  has the highest mintage with 9.6 million pieces. However, some collectors may struggle to complete their Beatrix Potter set as it’s been revealed that only 2.1 million Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p coins were struck, making it the second most scarce commemorative 50p design (excluding the Olympic 50p series)! Squirrel Nutkin has also made it into the top 10 rare 50ps with a mintage of 5 million.

 

 

2016 was the first year since 1983 that no round £1 coins were struck for circulation due to the release of the new 12-sided £1 coin, as a result, this chart is now set in stone and the 2011 Edinburgh coin will remain the target for all round £1 coin collectors. But they’ll have to act quickly – along with the other round £1 coins it will disappear from circulation forever on 15th October.

 

 

The 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland £2 still remains the only £2 coin to have a mintage of less that 500,000, placing it firmly at the top of the chart.

From the 2016 designs, the First World War Army £2 coin has a very high mintage figure with over 9.5million pieces being struck, making it the second most common commemorative £2 coin ever.

Interestingly, the three Shakespeare £2 coins, ‘Comedies‘, ‘Histories‘ and ‘Tragedies‘ each have a different mintage figure.  Over 1.3 million fewer ‘Comedies’ coins were struck than ‘tragedies’, likely having an impact on collectability in the future.

You’ll notice that the Britannia £2 coin isn’t listed, this is because it is a definitive design, however the mintage increased to just over 3.5 million.

 

 

It will be very interesting to see how these coins fare in our updated Scarcity Indexes which will be released in July, so keep your eyes peeled for any changes.

And keep hold of your coins – you never know what they might be worth in the future! Remember you can Find, Collect and Swap all your coins for FREE with the Change Checker App: http://www.changechecker.org

33 Comments

  1. Coin Collector on June 13, 2017 at 5:58 pm

    The following coins are not included in the above charts:

    Mintage
    Old £1 2013 Royal Shield 13,090,500
    Old £1 2011 Royal Shield 25,415,000
    Old £1 2009 Royal Shield 27,625,600
    Old £1 2015 Royal Shield 29,580,000
    Old £1 2012 Royal Shield 35,700,030
    Old £1 2010 Royal Shield 57,120,000
    Old £1 2003 Royal Arms 61,596,500
    Old £1 2015 Royal Shield 62,475,640
    Old £1 2014 Royal Shield 79,305,200

    £2 2015 Britannia 650,000
    £2 2016 Britannia 2,925,000
    £2 2005 Technology 3,837,250
    £2 2012 Technology 3,900,000

    50p 2013 Royal Shield 10,301,000
    50p 2007 Britannia 11,200,000



  2. david hill on June 8, 2017 at 4:01 pm

    how many BU jemima puddleducks were minted?
    are they part of the 2,100,000 minted?



    • Luke Hearn on June 23, 2017 at 11:41 am

      Hi David, The Royal Mint have not confirmed the BU figures for a number of years, so the 2,100,000 refers to the number of circulated coins. Thanks Luke



  3. Vince Scales on June 7, 2017 at 9:05 pm

    Why isn’t the 2015 and 2016 Britannia £2 coins on the chart?



  4. Scott on June 2, 2017 at 7:22 pm

    I have milners tower 50p it is not on the checker chart



    • Luke Hearn on June 8, 2017 at 1:37 pm

      Hi Scott, this is because the Milner’s Tower 50p is from the Isle of Man. The Scarcity Index is made up of UK circulation coins. However, that is a great coin to have in your collection. Thanks, Luke



  5. Mr Graham Scurfield on May 31, 2017 at 6:45 pm

    Just noted that in the Olympic 50p list Volleyball and Badminton are shown with a mintage of 2,113,500 each (which is less than Fencing that appears higher in the list 2,115,500) The royal mint report Volleyball and Badminton as 2,133,500 each.



    • Luke Hearn on June 1, 2017 at 8:19 am

      Hi Graham, well spotted, you are correct that is an error on our side. We’ll get this updated. Thanks for your message. Luke



  6. thesearcher on May 31, 2017 at 3:38 pm

    How rare is the last round £1 coin



  7. Craig on May 28, 2017 at 1:05 am

    Hi Ignore my earlier question as I have had some new responses



    • Mark Howie on May 30, 2017 at 2:46 pm

      What have you got to swap Craig?



  8. Rob taylor on May 27, 2017 at 7:18 pm

    Has a 2016 royal arms one pound been released? It’s not on your list , but is appearing on other lists . Thanks .
    Rob



  9. Craig on May 20, 2017 at 1:01 pm

    Hi was just wondering if swap centre is working i rtealise not everyone wants to swap but havnt had a response in weeks



    • MarkDaventry on May 26, 2017 at 10:40 pm

      I have done a few swaps in the last few weeks, but sent out hundreds of requests, to get only a small number of responses back.
      Only suggestion is to keep sending in those requests to swap.
      Best of luck with your coin-hunting
      Mark



  10. Alan pinnion on May 17, 2017 at 11:58 pm

    One pound coin 2016 with mint mark, 10000 minted.



  11. Jane Ryan on May 17, 2017 at 6:46 pm

    Hi got a 5 pound coin dated2000 and a 2 pound coin 1986 are they worth anything



  12. Gerald Mortimer on May 17, 2017 at 5:22 pm

    During our tour of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, London today, the tour guide said the Mint were releasing only 155,000 of the Isaac Newton 50p.
    This will be less than Kew?



    • Luke Hearn on May 18, 2017 at 9:07 am

      Hi Gerald, If that were to be the case then yes, it would make it more scarce than Kew. However, I am not sure where the guide is getting his information from as The Royal Mint do not confirm mintage figures until long after the release date. I hope this helps, Luke



  13. a sennett on May 16, 2017 at 1:48 pm

    Where doe`s the 1992/1993 euro 50p come into this list



  14. Patrick Giffney on May 16, 2017 at 1:32 pm

    I have stopped collecting I have every coin on the
    £2 £1 & 50p lists. I also have 150 2000 Dragons.
    (read somewhere that they were lucky) guess they will
    be going to the bank before October,



  15. Spanner on May 16, 2017 at 7:19 am

    Which is rarer the. JC or I R B Battle of Britain 50p



  16. david hill on May 15, 2017 at 9:12 pm

    2.1m Jemimas eh………..that’s good as I have over 80 complete uncirculated sets



  17. Sean on May 15, 2017 at 5:14 pm

    Hi I have a complete set of Olympic 50p and round pounds, just wondering how much that lot might be worth in years to come



    • Luke Hearn on May 16, 2017 at 8:10 am

      Hi Sean, that’s a great set to have. Unfortunately, we do not offer valuations, however I would suggest visiting a platform such as eBay to see what others are selling a similar set for. I hope this helps. Thanks Luke



  18. Jim Grant on May 15, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    I have 5 old pennies from 5 different monarchs are these worth anything.
    I also have a King Charles 1st silver shilling.
    I also have a non dated 20p piece

    All with certificates



  19. Holly on May 15, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    Where is britania 2015 and 16 on the chart??



    • Luke Hearn on May 15, 2017 at 5:05 pm

      Hi Holly, if you have a read of the blog we mention that this was intentional due to it being a definitive design and not commemorative, you can also see the mintage figures. Thanks Luke



      • Holly on May 16, 2017 at 4:28 pm

        Thankyou I see that now 🙂



  20. PG on May 15, 2017 at 3:02 pm

    Amazing work! I’m very pleased to see finally the 2008 £1 Royal Arms on the chart, my personal nemesis. Also, would it be possible to differentiate between 4th and 5th portraits? I noticed the Royal Mint has no mintage for the 2015 50p Royal Shield – 5th portrait, what’s up with that?



  21. David sherry on May 15, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    The 2015 Britannia is missing from the £2 coin list I’m sure that was 650000 the same as the navy



    • Luke Hearn on May 15, 2017 at 5:04 pm

      Hi David, well done for spotting this, if you have a read of the blog, we mention that this was intentional due to it being a definitive design and not commemorative, you can also see the mintage figures. Thanks Luke



      • Alan Spicer on May 15, 2017 at 10:34 pm

        Not really a satisfactory answer. The heading is “How Rare is my …”. Most definatives were minted in very high numbers but the point is, for fun collectors, to look for those rare definitive years and if you include them then you will only increase the interest! Perhaps if you put it to a vote?



      • Luke Hearn on May 16, 2017 at 8:08 am

        Hi Alan, Thanks for your message. We accept your point and will look at including the coin in future charts. Thanks Luke