How rare is my £5 coin?
You may have noticed we’ve been talking about £5 coins a lot over the past few weeks and lots of collectors have been asking how rare their £5 coins are.
The £5 coin was first issued in 1990 as a replacement for the commemorative crown with a face value of 25p. They are usually reserved to commemorate significant British anniversaries and are a favourite among collectors as they are not intended for general circulation.
Using current Royal Mint figures we have put together three graphs where you can see just how rare your commemorative crown is, from the 1972 Silver Wedding Crown to the Brilliant Uncirculated Coronation £5 in 2013.
The differences in the mintage figures really are remarkable. Take a look below and see just how rare your £5 coin actually is.
The first crown ever to be issued was the 1972 Silver Wedding Coin and incidentally this is the rarest 25p UK coin from the Royal Mint with a mintage of 7,452,100. This 1972 crown was the first British coin to have a face value of 25 pence; previous crowns had been Five Shillings face value. Also, for the first time in modern times, the obverse did not incorporate a date, but merely bore the Queen’s name and titles surrounding her portrait.
The £5 coin with the lowest mintage in the history of UK £5 coins, is the circulated 2008 Prince Charles 60th Birthday £5 coin. Just 14,088 circulated quality coins were struck by the Royal Mint in 2008 to mark the 60th birthday of Prince Charles. The coins inscription ICH DIEN means ‘I serve’ and is taken from the Badge of the Prince of Wales.
* Individual Royal Mint BU Pack sales figures only
Out of the Brilliant Uncirculated £5 coins sold in individual The Royal Mint Packs, the 2014 Queen Anne £5 is the rarest. This coin has a mintage of just 12,181 and was struck to mark the 300th anniversary since the death of Queen Anne.The design bears an elegant portrait of Queen Anne, styled by Mark Richards FRBS as an eighteenth-century miniature.
How many of these £5 coins do you have in your collection? Do you own one of the rarest £5 coins? Let us know via Facebook, Twitter or leave a comment below!
The UK’s VERY FIRST Decimal Crown
Sir Winston Churchill to replace Elizabeth Fry on the new £5 banknote
The Bank of England have confirmed that the new £5 note will be released into circulation in September this year and will feature Sir Winston Churchill, replacing Elizabeth Fry, currently on the £5 note.
The design
The design features the famous portrait of Churchill in 1941 known as the ‘Roaring Lion’ as well as his famous quote “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” which he made on the day he became Prime Minister.
The clock on the Parliament building in the background shows the time as 3 o’clock which is when Sir Winston Churchill made the address to the public.
Just above this is his Nobel Prize in Literature which he was awarded in 1953.
Each aspect of the new banknotes design appropriately captures Churchill and his contribution to the UK.
Plastic money – and it’s not your credit card
For the first time in its 300-year history, the Bank of England will issue polymer banknotes. Polymer is manufactured from a transparent plastic film and will be made from a cleaner and more durable material which can be used to incorporate new security features.
According to the Bank of England, the demand for cash continues to grow and the new polymer banknotes will shape the usage of cash in the future. It has been revealed that a new £10 banknote will be issued in 2017 featuring Jane Austin while a £20 is due for release by 2020 but it is yet to be decided who will feature.
The 2015 coin search update: where are they?
Back in November 2014, the Royal Mint unveiled the new themes and designs for all 2015 coins intended for circulation.
As you can imagine, this caused a lot of excitement and we couldn’t wait to get our hands on them. In a poll, we asked change checkers to vote which design was their favourite with the clear winner being the 2015 Royal Navy £2.
So where are these 2015 commemorative coins?
The 2015 Battle of Britain 50p
The Battle of Britain 50p was released into circulation a few months ago, and a few lucky change checkers have managed to get their hands on them. Others, are still looking but we’re sure they’ll turn up soon.
The 2015 Royal Coat of Arms £1 Coin
The other commemorative coin that has proved to be very popular among collectors was the 2015 Royal Coat of Arms £1. It was revealed in December that the final batch of round £1 coins came off the production line at the Royal Mint, meaning that the only 2016 pound coins available to collectors will be Brilliant uncirculated version of the £1 coin.
Change Checkers are still searching for the 2015 Royal Navy, Britannia and Magna Carta £2 Coins
It is our understanding that the remaining 2015 commemorative coins will finally be released into circulation in March, so you may be able to find them in your change in just a matter days.
So keep checking your change over the coming weeks – you could be one of the first to find these £2 coins!
The UK 2016 Certified BU Great Fire of London £2
You can now get ahead with your 2016 collection. Click here to own the brand new 2016 Great Fire of London £2 coin.