Coin News
2023 Change Checker Awards – Winners Revealed!
The 2023 Change Checker Awards were opened to celebrate the very best collectors from the past year.
It’s been wonderful to see so many nominations for incredible Change Checkers and Junior Change Checkers – a great dedication to our beloved collecting hobby!
But our well deserved winners have now been selected…
Change Checker of the Year
Jeff Savage has been crowned as our 2023 Change Checker of the Year!
Jeff’s colleague nominated him for Change Checker of the Year saying that he has an impressive coin collection and his knowledge of past coins is second to none. He’s even given coins to friends, colleagues and family members to keep, inspiring them to start their own collections and encouraging the next generation of collectors.
It was even mentioned that Jeff might just be the biggest coin collector in Herefordshire!
Well done Jeff, keep up the good work and spreading the word of collecting!
Junior Change Checker of the Year
Wilf Ross and his brother Hugo have happily accepted the titles of 2023 Junior Change Checkers of the Year!
Wilf nominated himself and his brother for Junior Change Checkers of the year, as they love the collecting hobby and have been eagerly trying to expand their collection in the past year. Hugo and Wilf also said they’ve been talking to their teachers about coins and inspiring them to look out for commemorative issues in their change.
Wilf is aiming to collect every commemorative circulating 50p and £2 coin – good luck with your hunt Wilf!
Both Jeff and Wilf & Hugo will be receiving a personalized engraved Change Checker trophy, a Change Checker bundle of goodies worth £50 AND a year’s subscription to Coin Collector Magazine! A big thank you to All About Coins for gifting the subscriptions for this year’s Change Checker Awards – I think we can all agree it makes a fantastic prize!
2023 Coin Design of the Year
This year, we also asked you to vote for your favourite 2023 UK coin design!
With some incredible UK coins issued this year, it’s hard to chose just one – but the votes are in and it seems there is a clear winner…
First Place: The Flying Scotsman £2
With 17.01% of the votes, the Flying Scotsman £2 is your favourite coin from 2023!
It was issued at the beginning of the year to mark the centenary of world’s most famous locomotive – The Flying Scotsman. It was included in the 2023 Annual Coin Set, meaning collectors have had nearly a whole year to enjoy it’s beautiful design.
Find out more about the Flying Scotsman £2 here >>
Second Place: Bee £1
In second place is one of the coins from the New UK Coinage Set which was released in October – the Bee £1. The long awaited new coins for King Charles III proved incredibly popular with collectors, with their wildlife and nature designs perfectly representing The King’s passion for conservation. Click here to hear what the people of Poole thought of the UK’s New Coinage.
You can find out more about the UK’s New Coinage here >>
Third Place: J.R.R. Tolkien £2
The third most popular coin design of 2023 was another £2 from the 2023 Annual Coin Set – the J.R.R. Tolkien £2. It was issued to celebrate legendary fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien and marks 50 years since his passing. Best known for creating The Lord of the Rings books, Tolkien is often referred to as the ‘Father of Fantasy’.
Find out more about the J.R.R. Tolkien £2 here >>
A big thank you once again to All About Coins for supporting us this year and of course a huge congratulations to all of our winners!
We’d like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support in 2023 and hope that 2024 is a fantastic year of Change Checking for you all!
Never miss a UK coin issue!
2023 Change Checker Awards NOW OPEN!
We’re delighted to announce the 2023 Change Checker Awards, in association with All About Coins, are now OPEN!
The Change Checker Awards give collectors the chance to look back at all of the fantastic issues of the year whilst celebrating the very best coin collectors out there.
We’re looking for the 2023 Change Checker of the Year and the 2023 Junior Change Checker of the year and we need your help!
Watch our video below, or continue reading to find out how to enter…
Change Checker and Junior Change Checker of the Year
Nominations are now closed
The victorious Change Checker and Junior Change Checker of the Year will be announced on Friday 8th December.
They’ll each win an exclusive Change Checker Trophy, a bundle of goodies worth £50, AND a year’s subscription to Coin Collector magazine.
UK Coin Design of the Year
To celebrate a fantastic year of UK coins, we also asked you to vote for your favourite coin design from 2023.
Voting is now closed – your favourite coin design will be revealed in our YouTube video on 8th December!
Get your hands on the 2023 Annual Set!
Secure the 2023 UK Annual Coin Set for just £42.99 (+p&p) >>
Upcoming King Charles III Coins! What we know so far…
The collecting community has been abuzz with excitement for new King Charles III coins, especially since the UK’s new circulating coinage set was released in October.
And so I’m delighted to give you all the updates we know so far about future King Charles III commemorative coins to look forward to.
Read on to find out what’s on the horizon from the UK’s latest Royal Proclamations and get ready to add these upcoming coins to your collecting wish list!
Upcoming 50p Releases
80th Anniversary of D-Day
On 12th April 2024, a Royal Proclamation announced a brand new UK 50p coming soon.
The design of this coin and full details haven’t yet been released, but here’s what we do know:
- For the obverse impression Our effigy with the inscription “· CHARLES III · D · G · REX · F · D · 50 PENCE ·” and the date of the year, and for the reverse a depiction of soldiers disembarking a landing craft, accompanied by the inscription “D-DAY 6 JUNE 1944 UTAH OMAHA GOLD JUNO SWORD”. The coin shall have a plain edge.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a D-Day themed UK coin, in 1994 a UK 50p was issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
We also saw a UK £2 issued in 2019 to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The coin features arrows pointing across the English Channel to Normandy. Each arrow also has one of the code names used for each of the beaches where Allied troops landed – Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
Upcoming £5 Releases
Lunar Year of the Snake
The Lunar Year £5 coins are usually one of the first coins issued bearing the following year’s date. For example, the Lunar Year of the Dragon £5 was issued in September 2023 and was the first 2024 dated UK £5 coin.
The next Lunar Year £5 coin has been announced, and as 2025 will be the Year of the Snake, it’ll feature the snake.
Credit: cafeastrology
Here’s what we know so far about this upcoming coin as per the Royal Proclamation released on 13th March 2024:
- ‘For the obverse impression Our effigy with the inscription “· CHARLES III · D · G ·
REX · F · D · 5 POUNDS ·” and the date of the year, and for the reverse a depiction of a
snake upon grassy landscape with the inscription “YEAR OF THE SNAKE · ”, the date of
the year and the Chinese character for a snake. The coin shall have a grained edge.’
Decades of Bond £5 Series
We’re over halfway through the Decades of Bond £5 coin series, with 3 still to be released. Each coin in this series celebrates a decade of James Bond films, with iconic imagery from the movies and the film titles from each era repeated in the background.
So far, we’ve seen the Bond of the 60s coin featuring Little Nellie from You Only Live Twice, the Bond of the 70s coin showing Wet Nellie, the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me, the Bond of the 80s £5 which features the Acrostar ‘Bede’ Jet from Octopussy and the Bond of the 90s £5 depicting the iconic Thames River chase scene from The World is Not Enough.
When you consider the huge popularity of the ‘B’ A-Z 10p which was dedicated to James Bond and the 2020 Bond £5 series, there’s no doubt that this theme is loved within the collecting community.
What do you think will feature on the upcoming Decades of Bond £5 coins?
Upcoming £2 Releases
200 Years of the National Gallery £2
The National Gallery £2 was featured in the 2024 Annual Coin Set, however it is yet to be individually issued. Featuring the iconic façade of the National Gallery building, this £2 celebrates the gallery’s 200th anniversary.
We can expect to see the 2024 National Gallery £2 issued individually later in the year, but if you can’t wait to get your hands on it, you can secure it in the 2024 Annual Set.
Winston Churchill £2
Usually, all the coins in the Annual Set are individually released throughout the year, however this year is different, as the Winston Churchill £2 will NOT be individually issued. So currently the only way to get your hands on it is in the 2024 Annual Set.
You can secure your 2024 Annual Set for just £42 (+p&p) here >>
Never miss a future UK coin issue!
With such exciting releases on the horizon, you really won’t want to miss out on these incredible new coins.
So why not take away the worry and guarantee yourself every new UK coin issue, without the hassle of placing orders on launch day?
Join the Change Checker UK CERTIFIED BU Subscription Service and be one of the first to receive new UK coins as soon as they are released!