General info
Jersey and Guernsey celebrate 50 years of the 50p!
With just over a month to go until the official 50th anniversary of the 50p coin, celebrations have now hit Jersey and Guernsey as the British Crown Dependencies mark this monumental numismatic milestone.
As the world’s first seven-sided coin, the 50p caused quite a stir when it was first issued in 1969, however it has since become one of the most popular and highly collected coins in circulation, both across Britain and its Crown Dependencies.
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary, a unique pair of Jersey and Guernsey 50p coins have been specially re-issued this year.
This set includes re-issued versions of the 1969 Ducal Cap 50p from the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the 1969 Coat of Arms from the Bailiwick of Jersey. These were the first 50p coins issued in the British Crown Dependencies and the pair have now been re-struck with the 2019 year date in Brilliant Uncirculated quality for collectors.
Whilst Jersey and Guernsey coins aren’t legal tender in the UK, they have a history of becoming highly collectable due to their low mintage figures…
Guernsey 50p Mintage Figures
Two definitive 50p coin designs have been issued in Guernsey since decimalisation – The Ducal Cap and Freesia Flowers.
The 1969 Ducal Cap 50p has been re-issued in the smaller specification for the 50th Anniversary of the 50p.
Anthony Wagner’s design features the Ducal Cap of the Duke of Normandy on the reverse.
Unlike UK coins, the obverse of the Guernsey Freesia Flowers 50p feature the Guernsey Coat of Arms, which includes three lions next to Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait. This makes the 50p particularly distinguishable.
Whilst Guernsey coins aren’t legal tender in the UK, they do turn up in our change from time to time. And if you’re lucky enough to come across one, make sure you check to see if you’ve been able to find Guernsey’s rarest definitive 50p – the 1987 Freesia Flowers.
A tiny 5,000 Freesia Flowers 50ps were released in 1987 – that means there’s only enough for roughly 8% of the population of Guernsey to own one of these coins each!
Jersey 50p Mintage Figures
Two definitive 50p coin designs have also been issued in Jersey since decimalisation – the Shield and Grosnez Castle.
The 1969 Shield 50p has been re-issued in the smaller specification for the 50th Anniversary of the 50p.
George Kruger Gray’s design features three lions on a shield on the reverse. The obverse features Arnold Machin’s portrait of Her Majesty the Queen.
Again, these coins aren’t legal tender in the UK, so if you do find one in your change it would have found its way to you by accident, perhaps due to a holiday maker spending it by mistake.
Whether you find yourself checking your change in Jersey or the UK, you’ll want to keep a watchful eye on any Grosnez Castle 50ps that you might be lucky enough to find, as one year in particular is very rare…
Just 10,000 Grosnez Castle 50ps were issued in 2003 – compare that to the 23,583,000 Britannia 50ps released in the UK in 2003 and you’ll appreciate just how rare this coin really is!
Have you been lucky enough to come across any Jersey or Guernsey 50ps, either in circulation in the UK or when you’ve been on holiday to the British Isles? And will you be securing the special 50th Anniversary pair to mark this milestone moment?
Own the BRAND NEW 50th Anniversary of the 50p Pair
This unique pair of 50p coins includes Jersey and Guernsey’s first year of issue designs 50ps from 1969 – re-issued with the 2019 year date!
The Definitive 50p Collecting Challenge
*** UPDATE ***
The Definitive 50p Collecting Challenge has now come to an end as the 50p coin celebrated its 50th anniversary on the 14th October 2019, however you can still take up the challenge for yourself!
Best of luck hunting down all the definitive 50ps from your change!
There are currently 21 different definitive 50p coin designs to be found in your daily change. Your mission is to collect all of them from your change.
Definitive 50p coins
The mintage chart below shows how many of each UK definitive 50p coin is currently in circulation.
The rarest definitive 50p is the 2017 Royal Shield, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled and check the dates on your Royal Shield 50ps on the hunt for this coin.
Yasmin and I were actually lucky enough to come across the 2017 Royal Shield during a 50p coin hunt, so it can be done and they most certainly are out there if you check your change!
We don’t yet know the mintage figures for 2018 and 2019 50p coins, so these coins haven’t been included on the chart, however it’s worth holding onto these coins as you never know how rare they might turn out to be! Our mintage charts and the Definitive 50p Checklist will be updated as soon these figures are confirmed.
You might have also noticed that no definitive 50p coins were issued for circulation in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2016. These coins won’t be included in the Definitive 50p Collecting Challenge, however if you do manage to find one in your change you will be very lucky as they would have come from an Annual Coin Set and are not intended for circulation.
You can download and print the Definitive 50p Collecting Challenge checklist here to keep track of the coins you’ve managed to find so far.
The UK’s Top 10 Rarest Coins in Circulation
Which coins should you be looking out for in your change?
We’ve taken a look at the mintage figures for UK coins to find out which ones are the rarest in circulation...
What you might be surprised by is that on our top 10 list, just 1 out of the 10 coins is a 50p!
The rarest UK coin currently in circulation is the Kew Gardens 50p, but the 9 rarest coins after that are actually £2s.
Whilst 50p coins are very popular amongst collectors at the moment, it’s certainly worth noting that it is in fact the £2 coins which you should be keeping your eyes peeled for, as some of the ones you can find in your change are very rare.
Other rare coins to look out for
Of course, this doesn’t take into account the rare error coins that have been found in circulation, such as:
- 2015 inverted effigy Britannia £2
- Olympic Aquatics 50p error
- Bronze 20p error
- Silver 2p error
- Undated 20p mule
Whilst exact mintage figures for these error coins may be unknown, we can assume that they could each be rare enough to find themselves near the top of the list.
A-Z of Great Britain 10p coins
It’s also worth noting that whilst mintage figures for the individual designs haven’t been released, if we assume that each A-Z of Great Britain 10p has been struck in equal quantities, then there would be approximately 281,000 of each design.
This would put each A-Z 10p design in equal second place on the list of the top 10 rarest coins in circulation!
What about the coins no longer in circulation?
Currently the Kew Gardens 50p is the rarest coin in circulation, but did you know that it isn’t actually the UK’s rarest 50p?
This title goes to the 1992/93 UK EC Presidency 50p, with a mintage of just 109,000 – almost half of the Kew Gardens!
In 1997, 50p coins were redesigned in the smaller specification and this coin was demonetised, meaning it is no longer in circulation.
The same can be said of the 1989 Claim of Right £2, which was demonetized in 1997 when the bi-metallic £2 coin was introduced.
This coin has a mintage of 381,400 which makes it the rarest UK £2 and would put it in second place on the list if it were still in circulation.
Are you lucky enough to have any of the top 10 rarest coins in your collection? Or perhaps you’ve even been lucky enough to get your hands on the pre-1997 coins listed above. Let us know 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