£5 Coins
The Sapphire Jubilee – a first in British Royal history
This year Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her Sapphire Jubilee – the first ever British monarch in history to do so.
It is the first Sapphire Jubilee to be celebrated in British Royal history and as you can imagine this is a significant event for collectors and an occasion that deserves celebration.
The Royal Mint have issued a brand new £5 coin to mark the occasion, so I thought I’d take a look back at the history and timeless designs of previous UK jubilee coins issued during Her Majesty’s reign…
Own the brand new Sapphire Jubilee £5
Click here to own the brand new UK £5 coin issued by The Royal Mint to celebrate Her Majesty’s Sapphire Jubilee – the first British monarch in history to do so.
A remarkable milestone that seems to have been forgotten…
Today, the Duke of Edinburgh celebrates his 95th birthday, a truly remarkable milestone.
It would seem that whilst the Queen’s 90th birthday is celebrated throughout the nation, Prince Philip’s 95th birthday has been forgotten in comparison.
"He has, quite simply, been my strength & stay all these years"
A photo for #Queenat90 & The Duke's 95th birthday pic.twitter.com/7nO4Q98bhH
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 9, 2016
Why we shouldn’t forget about Philip…
The Duke of Edinburgh is the longest-serving consort in British history and the oldest-ever male member of the British Royal family.
Did you know he worked with the Royal Mint?
In 1952, The Duke of Edinburgh was appointed President of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee. His role included selecting the design of coins, medals and seals for the new reign of Her Majesty the Queen. He worked with the Royal Mint right up to his retirement in 1999 so it’s fair to say that the coins we know and love from years gone by, were specially selected by Prince Philip.
One of the rarest £5 coins
Back in 2011 a UK £5 coin was issued for his 90th birthday. Just 18,730 of these coins were struck in Brilliant uncirculated presentation packs making it one of the rarest £5 coins ever. You can read the full blog here:
The 2011 Prince Phillip £5 Coin
The Coins design featured a specially commissioned portrait of Philip by Mark Richards FRBS. The coin shows a close up portrait which aims to emphasise the features of His Royal Highness rather than portraying him as a distant figurehead.
He also featured on this coin… a numismatic first!
The 2007 Diamond Wedding £5 Coin
In 2007, Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, a remarkable 60 years of marriage. Due to this massive milestone and a truly proud moment for them both, the Royal Mint issued a £5 coin. Designed by Emma Noble, the reverse beautifully depicts the Rose Window at Westminster Abbey. This highly sought after coin is the only UK coin to feature the conjoined portrait of the Queen and Prince Philip.
So Happy 95th Birthday Prince Philip and many happy returns.
Do you have either of these coins in your collection? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.
The Prince Philip 95th Birthday DateStamp™ Issue
Click here to own one of just 95 that have been released in honour of Prince Philip’s 95th Birthday.
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