£5 Coins
Our Top 10 UK Royal Coins
Are you a collector of UK Royal coins?
From celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th Birthday, to marking Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne in 1837, Royal anniversaries, birthdays and achievements have been commemorated on UK coinage for centuries.
In this blog, we’re going to take a look at what we believe to be the Top 10 UK Royal Coins of all time.
1. 2015 Longest Reigning Monarch £5
As of 2020, HM Queen Elizabeth II became the world’s 5th longest reigning monarch! But in 2015, she became Britain’s, after 63 incredible years on the throne.
To celebrate this momentous occasion The Royal Mint issued a series of commemorative coins, including this 2015 Longest Reigning Monarch £5.
When news of the coin broke, it proved to be popular amongst coin collectors and fans of the Royal Family alike, with The Royal Mint’s website experiencing “overwhelming levels of traffic”. (The Royal Mint Blog)
Unusual in modern times, James Butler has designed both the reverse and the obverse of the coin. His new commemorative portrait of HM The Queen features on the obverse.
2. 2020 UK King George III £5
Next up is the King George III £5 which was initially issued as part of the 2020 Annual Coin Set in January to celebrate the life and reign of Britain’s longest reigning King.
In commemoration of the 200th anniversary since his death, this is the first time that King George III has been celebrated on modern UK coinage – the last time he featured on a coin was 1820!
Included in the reverse design is the royal residence and his place of death, Windsor Palace as well as the King’s Observatory, which was founded by the King himself in 1769!
3. 2016 Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th Birthday £5
As a nation, we’ve celebrated Her Majesty the Queen’s landmark birthdays, jubilees and wedding anniversaries during her long and eventful reign.
When Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to celebrate their 90th Birthday, the release of this £5 coin in 2016 was particularly special and hugely significant for collectors around the world.
This is the only official UK £5 coin to mark this special occasion and it features a design that was approved by The Queen herself! The 9 roses on the reverse, designed by Christopher Hobbs, each represent a decade of Her Majesty’s life.
4. 1838 The Young Head Sovereign
At just 18 years old, Alexandra Victoria acceded to the throne and ruled Britain for an incredible 63 years, making her Britain’s longest reigning monarch at the time of her death in 1901!
This was the very first Sovereign to be issued under Queen Victoria’s rule, issued in 1832, featuring the popular ‘Young Head’ portrait by William Wyon. This portrait was favoured by Victoria and contributed to the coin’s popularity through her reign.
To this day, it is the longest a portrait has featured on Britain’s circulating coinage having been issued on bronze coins up until 1895!
5. 1902 Edward VII Silver Crown
The Edward VII 1902 Silver Crown was issued for one-year-only to celebrate Edward’s coronation – only 256,020 were ever struck. It was the last British crown struck for circulation!
This coin reflects a crucial period in British History, and celebrates the might and confidence of one of the most powerful leaders on earth.
6. 2008 Queen Elizabeth I £5
Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne on 17th November 1558 – a moment of triumph for the underestimated daughter of Henry VIII…
Under her rule, England went from an impoverished country torn apart by religious and political turbulence to the world’s dominant power with victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588.
The Elizabethan era is often considered the golden age of English history with music, art and literature flourishing.
To commemorate 450 years since Elizabeth II’s accession, The Royal Mint issued this £5 in 2008 featuring a portrait of Elizabeth I within a mandorla created by four decorative arches and Tudor roses.
7. 2018 Four Generations of Royalty
This Four Generations of Royalty £5 coin was highly anticipated since the moment HRH Prince George of Cambridge was born on 22nd July 2013.
This was the first time in modern years that The Royal Mint issued a coin that celebrated all four generations of royalty in line to the throne on a single coin. The last time that four generations of royalty were celebrated together was in 1894 under Queen Victoria’s reign!
The reverse design, by Timothy Noad, ornately shows the initials of the current four generations, E, C, W & G and represents the heritage of the House of Windsor.
8. 2000 Queen Mother Centenary £5
Anticipation of the imminent 100th birthday of HM the Queen Mother meant several countries released centenary coins as soon as she entered her 100th year rather than wait for her actual birthday on 4th August 2000.
The Royal Mint struck a £5 coin wholly designed by Ian Rank-Broadley, which included a reverse design of a left-facing profile of the Queen Mother wearing a diamond tiara with her signature underneath; this was the first time this had happened on a British coin!
9. 2017 Platinum Wedding Anniversary £5
On 20th November 2017 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip celebrated their Platinum wedding anniversary, celebrating an unprecedented 70 years together!
To mark the longest marriage in Royal history, The Royal Mint issued a celebratory £5 coin in 2017. It features specially commissioned double portrait of the couple on the obverse, and an engraving of the two riding their much loved horses together on the reverse.
It is estimated just 60 people in the UK celebrated their Platinum Wedding Anniversary in the same year – meaning Her Majesty and HRH Prince Philip are literally one in a million!
10. 2018 Prince Charles 70th Birthday £5
On the 14th November 2018 Prince Charles celebrated his 70th birthday.
To mark this special occasion and to celebrate the longest serving heir apparent, who has shown unwavering dedication to the British people, The Royal Mint issued this £5 coin.
The reverse features a new portrait of the prince, specially designed by Robert Elderton. It is the only official UK coin to have marked The Prince of Wales’ birthday!
Of course there have been so many other incredible UK Royal coins and narrowing it down to just 10 was a tough job, but we certainly feel these coins have got to be highlights!
Let us know which coins UK Royal coins would make it into your Top 10 in the comments below!
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app
The Top 5 Coins of the Decade
I still can’t quite believe 2020 is here and we’re into a new decade! But what better excuse could there be to take a look back at some of our favourite coin releases from the past 10 years?
Along with new coins, the numismatic world as a whole seems to have expanded as a new generation of collectors have discovered the joy of this fantastic hobby.
There’s no denying we’ve seen some incredible coins released since 2010, but the Change Checker team have picked out our personal favourite TOP FIVE.
So without any further ado, here are the coins we believe to be the greatest of the past 10 years. Drum roll please...
1. The London Olympic and Paralympic 50ps
Issued to mark the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games hosted by London, this coin series played a huge part in transforming the 50p into the UK’s most collectable coin.
29 different 50p coin designs were released to commemorate the different sports and across the nation millions rose to the challenge of collecting them all.
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.
It was certainly the Olympic 50p series that reawakened the nation’s love of coin collecting in the last decade, so we just had to include them at the top of our list!
2. The Beatrix Potter 50ps
Next up is a series which inspired a whole new generation of collectors, and for that reason it would be a crime not to include the Beatrix Potter 50p series on our list.
Just like me, I’m sure you’ll have fond childhood memories of reading the enchanting tales of Peter Rabbit and his friends as a child and this beautiful 50p series really does do justice to those memorable tales.
4 years, and 14 coins later, the Beatrix Potter 50p coins remain one of the public’s favourite ever collection of coins.
Since The Royal Mint released the first Beatrix Potter 50ps in 2016, these charming coins have created a collecting frenzy, becoming increasingly sought-after to this day.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that this is one of the stand-out coin series of all time, let alone the decade!
3. Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th Birthday £5
As a nation, we’ve celebrated Her Majesty the Queen’s landmark birthdays, jubilees and wedding anniversaries during her long and eventful reign.
Traditionally, the Queen’s birthday milestones are celebrated with £5 coins, as seen issued in both 1996 and 2006 to mark her 70th and 80th birthdays.
And so, this decade, when Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to celebrate their 90th Birthday, the release of this £5 coin in 2016 was particularly special and hugely significant for collectors around the world.
This was the only official UK £5 coin to mark this special occasion, designed by acclaimed artist Christopher Hobbs, who captured the Queen’s love of flowers, showing nine roses – one for each decade of the Queen’s life.
4. 2015 Britannia £2
Britannia has a long standing history with British coinage, having featured on a British coin in one way or another for more than 300 years.
In 2008 she was surprisingly dropped from the 50p, despite a Daily Mail campaign to save her. However in February 2015 it was announced that Antony Dufort’s modern interpretation of Britannia would be making a triumphant return to British circulating coins, replacing the definitive £2 “Technology” design which had featured on the coin since 1997.
This was a very popular move from The Royal Mint, but it wasn’t until the mintage figures were announced that the real surprise was unveiled…
Only 650,000 of the 2015 dated Britannia £2 coins had been stuck for circulation, making it one of the rarest UK £2 coins ever!
The rarity and numismatic significance of this coin as the UK’s new definitive £2 means it had to earn a spot on our Top Five list.
5. The A-Z of Great Britain 10ps
In 2018, The Royal Mint sparked huge excitement across the nation with the surprise release of 26 brand new 10p coin designs.
Each coin design was created to represent an image of what makes Britain British from A – Angel of the North, all the way to Z – Zebra Crossing, and collectors quickly fell in love with these unique coins.
Figures for 2018 confirm that 220,000 of each design entered circulation, meaning each design is almost as rare as the Kew Gardens 50p – the UK’s rarest coin in circulation!
A further 2.1 million A-Z 10ps were released in 2019 overall, meaning there really aren’t many to go around and many collectors are struggling to come across them in their change as they are being snapped up so quickly.
The A-Z 10ps really have been one of the biggest numismatic talking points of the decade and so they just had to be included on our list. Have you been lucky enough to find any?
Of course there have been so many other incredible releases in the past 10 years and narrowing it down to just five was a tough job, but we certainly feel that these coins have got to be highlights of the last decade.
Let us know which coins would make it into your Top Five in the comments below!
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app
The Queen £5 coin – What we know so far…
*** UPDATE ***
Following the Royal Proclamation on the 8th November, The Royal Mint have now confirmed there will be a Music Legends coin series!
It’s safe to assume Queen will be part of this series, but who else would you like to see on a Music Legends coin? Let us know in the comments below and sign up for updates at the bottom of the blog!
As of the Royal Proclamations issued on 8th November 2019, a very exciting United Kingdom £5 coin has been confirmed for 2020.
The reverse design is said to feature ‘a keyboard, drum, bass and electric guitar accompanied by a microphone and the inscription “QUEEN”‘.
This is the first time a band has been commemorated on a UK coin which makes this announcement particularly exciting.
At the moment, the designs are still top secret but you can fill in our sign-up form below to stay up-to-date with all the latest news about this release.
Stay up to date with all the latest Queen £5 news…
Fill in your details below to be kept up to date with all the latest news about the 2020 Queen £5 coin.
If you’re interested in coin collecting, our Change Checker web app is completely free to use and allows users to:
– Find and identify the coins in their pocket
– Collect and track the coins they have
– Swap their spare coins with other Change Checkers
Sign up today at: www.changechecker.org/app