Coin News
Discover the currency of Egypt!
For the past few months at Change Checker HQ, we’ve been really enjoying researching different coins from around the world. And the coinage from the sunny climes of Egypt has really caught our attention…
After a bit of digging around, we’ve found out some interesting facts about these fascinating coins… Did you know that Egypt, just like us, uses the ‘pound’ as their currency?
But wait! Before you pack your bags and prepare for a trip abroad without the hassle of exchange rates, you need to be aware that this is not the British pound as we know it, but the Egyptian Pound!
Each pound is made up of 100 piastres (what we would refer to as pennies), and 22 Egyptian pounds convert to 1 British Sterling pound. Egyptian coins are in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 25 and 50 piastres, along with the 1 pound coin of course.
Egypt’s currency design is based largely on its ancient history, with pharaohs, pyramids and past dynasties proving to be popular themes across Egypt’s coinage, including Tutankhamun, Cleopatra and the Pyramids of Giza.
When exploring further into the background of these coins, it’s no wonder Tutankhamun has been chosen as such a poignant design, featuring on the highest denomination, the £1 coin.
As one of the only perfectly preserved Egyptian Royal Tombs, the myth of Tutankhamun is world-famous, making him the best-known King of Egypt. In terms of coinage, Tutankhamun has not only featured in Egyptian minting, but worldwide on various coins (including this recently released coin from Ghana struck in the shape of Tutankhamun’s mask).
Cleopatra also features heavily on Egyptian coins, as the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Her name directly translates to ‘Glory of her father’, and it was rumoured she was romantically involved with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. Her legacy is ever standing due to what she represented in a male-dominated society – a strong woman able to hold a country together throughout warfare just as well as her male counterparts. A fitting face for any coin I think!
Egypt 50 Piastres Cleopatra – 2005
It’s clear that the currency of Egypt sits on a proud heritage that maps out its ancient world through the striking designs of its coins. But what do you think about these coins? Let us know in the comments below!
How rare is my 50p and how much is it worth?
There are now over 35 different 50p coin designs in circulation and as an avid coin collector, there’s nothing better than finding a sought-after 50p in your change!
But with so many in circulation, how can you tell which are the ones to look for?
Luckily for you, we’ve done the leg work and compiled a number of resources to help you determine how rare your 50p is and how much it might be worth.
Mintages
A sure fire way to know if you’ve found a keeper is to check the mintage figures for your 50p. Generally speaking, the lower the mintage, the rarer the coin and the harder it will be to find in circulation.
Here are the most up to date mintage charts for UK 50p coins in circulation, with the UK’s rarest circulation 50p, Kew Gardens sat in top spot with the lowest mintage figures – just 210,000 of this coin were struck!
The 2018 and 2019 Peter Rabbit and Flopsy Bunny 50p coins hold joint second spot on the chart, as just 1,400,000 of each were issued for circulation! The 2020 Withdrawal from the EU 50p makes an entrance to our mintage chart alongside the 2020 Diversity Built Britain 50p, with mintages of 10,001,000 and 10,300,000 respectfully.
Click here to read more about the 50p mintage figures >>
eBay Tracker
Mintage figures are a great way to find out how many of your coin were released into circulation and therefore how difficult it might be to find, but this doesn’t necessarily give you a value for your coin. One way in which you can determine what your coin might be worth is to look at the prices it has sold for on eBay.
Again, we’ve made things easy for you by taking the last 9 sold prices achieved on eBay and giving you the median price achieved (rounded to the nearest 50p). By taking the median, rather than an average, we avoid skewing created by one or two excessive prices achieved.
Here’s the top 10 highest selling UK circulation coins from our eBay Tracker, with Kew Gardens not surprisingly having the highest selling price, followed by the 1992/93 EEC 50p (the rarest 50p to have ever entered circulation!)
Click here to see our full eBay Tracker >>
Scarcity Index
To give you a complete picture of how your coin compares to other 50ps in circulation, we have combined the mintage information with two other key pieces of information to provide the Change Checker Scarcity Index:
- How many of each design are listed as “collected” by Change Checkers, indicating the relative ease of finding a particular coin.
- The number of times a design has been requested as a swap over the previous 3 months, showing the current level of collector demand.
Here’s our most recent Scarcity Index for 50p coins, with yet again Kew Gardens coming in on top as the most scarce 50p. Where does your 50p rank on the Scarcity Index?
So now you have access to a range of tools to help indicate how rare your 50p is and what it might be worth. Of course, these figures will change in time as the latest 50ps are released into circulation, so you never know, we could see the elusive Kew Gardens kicked off top spot one day!
Have you found any rare coins in your change recently? 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
The remarkable story of when a British 2 pence weighed the same as a Mars Bar…
Have you the story behind the Cartwheel Pennies? Not only are they the heaviest and largest coins ever issued for circulation, they were also issued for ONE-YEAR-ONLY.
Here’s the story…
Throughout the 18th century silver prices increased, which resulted in a substantial decrease in the amount of silver pennies that were being minted. This led to a lack of small change and businesses were finding it difficult to pay their employees with the current coinage.
Two of the largest coins ever issued in British history
Subsequently, a trend began where independent Mints started striking copper half penny and penny tokens. Most of these tokens were being minted at the ‘Soho Mint’ in Birmingham, which was actually the very first Mint to be powered by Steam.
Whilst this was not legitimate money it solved the issue and it took off – companies all over Britain were ordering personalised tokens.
Two of the largest coins ever issued in British history
However, the ‘solution’ meant there was a problem…
The British Government had lost control of the coinage. In an attempt to regain control, they instructed Soho Mint to strike 480 tonnes of copper pennies and 20 tonnes of copper twopences.
These were to be the first regal British coins of the denominations to be made of copper, and the very first official British coins to be struck using steam power.
8 times heavier than today’s 1p and 2p coins
The coins were large! In fact, the 1 pence weighed an incredible 1oz and the 2 pence weighed 2oz – that’s the same weight as a Mars Bar and almost 8 times heavier than the current 1p and 2p coins. At that size, it’s hard to believe these ever jangled in the pocket of our ancestors!
The coins weighed so much because they were struck in pure copper and their intrinsic value corresponded to their actual face value. Their design was simple – a portrait of the monarch at the time, King George III on the obverse and Britannia on the reverse.
The dramatic size of these coins and their unusually wide raised rim is why they became known as ‘Cartwheel’ pennies.
The modern 1p coin compared to the 2oz 2p coin
Issued for one-year-only
The ‘Cartwheel’ pennies were designed this way to prevent counterfeiting, but their size and weight made them cumbersome and unwieldy. They were immediately unpopular with the public as people didn’t like carrying them around – the two-pence was an INCH and three-quarters in diameter and a quarter inch thick. There were soon calls for them to be discontinued and shortly after, the coins were redesigned.
Due to the rise in the price of copper, the intrinsic value of the coins soon exceeded their face value and subsequently the majority of these coins were melted down.
This meant, the coins were issued for one-year-only, which automatically makes them two of the must-have modern coins and key coins in any British collection.
Small number of the original 200 year old ‘Cartwheel’ coins available…
We have secured a small number of sets containing the original 200 year old ‘Cartwheel’ coins – the two pence and the penny. They come presented in a deluxe presentation case with an accompanying Certificate of Authenticity. They really are key must-have coins in any British collection.