National UK £5 Coin Ballot Announced
This year we celebrate the Platinum Wedding Anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh – an incredible 70 years of marriage and a FIRST in British royal history.
To celebrate this new milestone, The Royal Mint has issued a brand new UK £5 coin which is sure to be a key issue sought-after by collectors for years to come.
We have managed to secure 1,000 of these brand new UK Platinum Wedding Anniversary £5 Coins for a special UK £5 Coin Ballot.
By entering the ballot you’ve now got the chance to own this brand new £5 for its face value – just £5, POSTFREE.
Can’t wait – click here to find out how to enter the ballot now.
The 2017 UK Platinum Wedding £5 Coin
About the 2017 UK Platinum Wedding Anniversary £5 Coin
Artist John Bergdahl who created the reverse of this special coin explained about the relevance of the equestrian imagery:
“The use of mounted figures has long been a traditional way to mark important royal occasions. Both The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have a love of horses but it seems they rarely rode together, Prince Philip being mainly involved in polo and Her Majesty hacking for pleasure.”
“I therefore chose to depict them at the Trooping the Colour. The Queen is riding her favourite horse Burmese and appears very serene, while Prince Philip’s horse is seen pulling to one side and about to kick over the traces, a reflection perhaps of their different natures.”
The obverse features a special portrait of the couple by sculptor Etienne Millner.
Speaking about the design, he said, “I am hoping to portray The Queen not only as monarch but as a wife, mother and grandmother.”
The History of the £5 Coin
Traditionally, major British events were celebrated with commemorative crowns, which had a face value of 25p, or 5 shillings prior to decimalisation in February 1971. But in 1990 the face value was increased to £5 to give the coin a value consistent with its weight and size.
£5 coins are the flagship coins of the UK and are used to commemorate some of our most important royal events and anniversaries
The first ever £5 coin was released to celebrate The Queen Mother’s 90th Birthday, with other popular issues including The Queen and Prince Philip’s 50th Golden Wedding in 1997, The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Crown in 1999 and the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005.
The Ballot opens today (2nd October) and will close at 5pm on Monday 16th October.
Your way to own the UK’s new £5 coin for just £5
But remember, with only 1000 of these coins available in the ballot you’ll need to register now for your chance to own the Platinum Wedding Anniversary £5 Coin.
Click here to find out how you can own the 2017 UK Platinum Wedding £5 for its face value.
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September 2017 Video Newsletter
September has been a great month for Change Checkers!
The Bank of England released a new UK bank note into circulation. The Royal Mint also released a new 50p and £2 coin and we were lucky enough to interview a Royal Mint coin designer.
Watch as Yasmin and Luke discuss all the latest change collecting news:
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Will the Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin become more scarce than the Kew Gardens?
It’s been reported in the media this week that the Sir Isaac Newton coin will become the most scarce 50p in UK circulation.
Will the Sir Isaac Newton 50p become the rarest coin in UK circulation?
A number of outlets have suggested that only 375 coins will be released giving it a mintage figure 560 times less than the Kew Gardens 50p coin.
An unspecified number of Sir Isaac Newton 50p coins were released into circulation in June
However, we can confirm that this is not the case.
For starters, back in June an unspecified number of Isaac Newton coins were released into circulation. Based on the number of reports we’ve had from Change Checkers, we would estimate that this initial release was in the thousands.
It is true that The Royal Mint are releasing a small amount of Sir Isaac newton 50p coins at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire this week. However, the decision to release a low number coins at the birthplace of Newton is to commemorate the 375th anniversary of the scientist’s birth and is not the total amount that will enter circulation.
Further Sir Isaac Newton coins will be released, in a recent press statement The Royal Mint confirmed, “Members of the public from across the UK can expect to see the circulating edition of the coin in their change over the forthcoming months.”
However, at this stage it is impossible to say when and how many of the remaining Sir Isaac Newton 50p coins will enter circulation. The release of circulation coins is driven by demand from the banks.
It is quite possible that this coin will have a low mintage figure, maybe even less than 210,000, the number of Kew Gardens 50p coins. However, based on previous commemorative coin releases, we believe this to be unlikely.
Either way, we hope you have good luck in your search!
We’d love to know if you’ve found the Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin in your change. Let us know by answering our poll:
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