Coin News
Rare Trial Pieces including Kew Gardens 50p to be Auctioned for the First Time Ever!
Have you heard the news that for the first time in its history, The Royal Mint plan to auction rare sample coins for collectors?
Trial pieces are some of the very first samples of a new coin to be struck. They are used to set the standard for each coin issued and are carefully inspected by coin makers to ensure they meet the correct standards before striking of the new design begins.
Trial Coins Put Up For Auction
Rebecca Morgan, director of collector services at the Royal Mint, said: “This month we are delighted to offer a sample of our trial pieces at auction for the first time. Each of the trial pieces has played an integral role in creating the final coin, and offer collectors the chance to own a part of numismatic history.”
The Royal Mint have announced that collectors will have the chance to get their hands on a number of trail pieces at auction on Sunday 26th September.
Included in the auction are the coveted Kew Gardens 50p (the UK’s rarest circulation coin) and the Three Graces (a collection that sold out in 25 minutes last December).
Rare Kew Gardens 50p
Considered the ‘holy grail’ of change collecting, the Kew Gardens 50p tops the Change Checker Scarcity Index time and again. In fact, this coin is so sought-after that collectors are willing to pay well over face value to get their hands on one, with our latest eBay Tracker revealing the coin currently selling for £157 on the secondary market!
However, we always urge buyer caution when purchasing a Kew Gardens 50p, as there are a number of fakes out there to be aware of. Find out how you can spot the fake Kew Gardens 50ps here.
1994 Mayflower £2 Trail Piece
Rare trial pieces have been seen before, often becoming very sought-after amongst collectors…
In 1994, ahead of the introduction of the UK’s first bi-metallic coin – the £2 – The Royal Mint created a trial piece. This was used by The Royal Mint to test the minting process of the new coin and to help the automatic vending industry re-calibrate their machines in preparation.
The trialled reverse design features a three-masted sailing ship. Although the ship is not named, it is likely to be the Mayflower, which set sail from Plymouth to America to establish the first permanent New-England colony. The outer ring bears the inscription Royal Mint Trial with the date, 1994.
There were just over 4,500 packs of this trial £2 issued and as the coin design was never released into circulation, it has become an incredibly rare example of a bi-metallic £2 coin.
If you own one of these £2 trial pieces you can consider yourself very lucky!
But with the upcoming auction set for the 26th September, we’re sure collectors will be excited at the chance of getting their hands on the trial piece coins offered by The Royal Mint, including that sought-after Kew Gardens 50p which we’re sure will be incredibly popular.
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Computer pioneer, Charles Babbage, celebrated on latest Innovation in Science 50p…
Charles Babbage was an English mathematician and inventor who originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. He is even renowned for being the ‘Father of Computers’!
In the year marking the 150th year of his passing, The Royal Mint has commemorated him on a brand new UK 50p, the latest issue in their Innovation in Science series.
2021 UK Charles Babbage 50p
This brand new 50p, designed by Nigel Tudman and Jas Bhamra, features a clever design which links Babbage’s extraordinary machinery to the digital age.
Believing scientific advancements should benefit everyone, Charles Babbage is the perfect addition to The Royal Mint’s Innovation in Science series.
Excitingly, this brand new 50p is now available in Brilliant Uncirculated quality for JUST £4.50 (+p&p) for collectors. To secure yours today, in Official Change Checker packaging, simply click here >>
The Pioneer of Computing
Boasting an impressive career in calculus, astronomy, and arithmetics , Charles Babbage held the title of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University.
The 1820s saw Babbage’s development of his ‘Difference Engine’, which was a machine that could perform mathematical calculations. Initially constructed as a six-wheeled model, it was later developed into a bigger, better, and more complex machine – Difference Engine 2.
However, his fame as a computer pioneer largely came from his invention, the Analytical Engine. It could perform any arithmetical calculation using punched cards, as well as a memory unit to store numbers – the fundamental components of today’s computers.
Babbage’s ideas were well ahead of their time, making him a perfect addition to The Royal Mint’s Innovation in Science series.
The Innovation in Science Series
This exciting series kick-started back in 2019 with the issue of the Stephen Hawking 50p.
2019 Stephen Hawking 50p
In 2019, less than a year since his death, The Royal Mint released a Stephen Hawking 50p coin, honouring his works as one of the most influential physicists of the modern age.
He became the very first person to be celebrated in The Royal Mint’s Innovators in Science series and only the third person to be commemorated on a coin within a year of their death (the others being Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother!)
The reverse of the coin, designed by Edwina Ellis, features a stylised black hole and the inscription ‘Stephen Hawking’ . It also shows the Bekenstein-Hawking formula, which describes the thermodynamic entropy of a black hole!
2020 Rosalind Franklin 50p
In the year that would have marked her 100th birthday, The Royal Mint released a 50p celebrating the life and crucial work of Rosalind Franklin, the first female scientist to be commemorated on a UK coin.
David Knapton’s striking design of this coin, features a depiction of Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray, ‘Photograph 51’, which revealed the helical structure of DNA, in her laboratory at King’s College, London.
One of Britain’s greatest scientists, Franklin made a crucial finding to the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA.
2021 John Logie Baird 50p
It’s hard to imagine life without television but back in the early 1920s, it was a complete unknown.
That was until John Logie Baird successfully produced televised objects in outline in 1924, transmitted recognisable human faces in 1925, and demonstrated the televising of moving objects in 1926.
Issued in 20201, to celebrate the life and works of the ‘Father of Television’, the design of this 50p coin features key milestones from Baird’s life, presented between the lines of transmission radiating from the centre of the coin.
We’re so excited to see the 2021 UK Charles Babbage 50p join the marvelous Innovation in Science series and we’re sure this brand new coin will prove incredibly popular with collectors!
Will you be securing these coins for your collection? Let us know in the comments!
Secure the 2021 UK Charles Babbage 50p in Brilliant Uncirculated quality!
Own the brand new 2021 UK Charles Babbage 50p in CERTIFIED Brilliant Uncirculated quality for JUST £4.50 (+p&p).
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The Insulin 50p – What we know so far…
Did you know that an Insulin 50p is set to be issued this year?
The Royal Proclamation from the 23rd July 2021 confirmed that a 50p will be issued in 2021 featuring a design dedicated to the hormone, Insulin.
Whilst the design remains top secret, the Royal Proclamation reveals the coin’s reverse design will feature a depiction of insulin molecules and the chemical formula for insulin.
Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by Sir Frederick G Banting, Charles H Best, and JJR Macleod at the University of Toronto.
Before this, very few people with type 1 diabetes lived more than a year or two, and it remains the only effective treatment for people with the condition to this day.
In the 100th anniversary year of its discovery, could this new 50p become the very latest issue in The Royal Mint’s Innovation in Science series? It hasn’t been confirmed but we certainly think it would make a great addition!
This series has brought us the 2019 Stephen Hawking 50p and the 2020 Rosalind Franklin 50p – both of which have proved incredibly popular with collectors!
We’re so excited for the design of this brand new coin to be revealed – it’s sure to make a huge breakthrough into the coin collecting world!
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Be one of the first to receive the brand new Insulin 50p!
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