Mintages
Could the 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin become the rarest 50p EVER?
The mintage figures for the 2017 UK base metal 50p coins have been released but that’ll have to wait a minute… there’s some even more exciting news!
The Royal Mint have announced that there will be a 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin but the ONLY place you’ll be able to get your hands on one of these is The Royal Mint Experience in Llantrisant, Wales! Interestingly, these 2018 dated coins will not be released into circulation.
Anybody visiting The Mint will get to strike a 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin but this will only be for a short period of time and subject to availability.
The ONLY place to get your hands on a 2018 dated Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin is at The Royal Mint Experience! (Image: The Royal Mint)
We’re predicting that due to the short time frame and visitor numbers, there could well be substantially less than 210,000 of these coins struck, meaning the 2018 Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin could well have a lower mintage figure than even the Kew Gardens 50p!
2017 UK Base Metal Mintage Figures
Early on Christmas Eve morning The Royal Mint released the mintage figures for the 2017 UK base metal commemorative coins. What immediately caught our eye was the surprisingly low number of Sir Isaac Newton 50p coins that had been struck.
At just 1.8 million the Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin has a lower mintage than the 2016 Jemima Puddle-Duck coin. Making it the SECOND LOWEST UK circulation 50p coin behind Kew Gardens (excluding the Olympic 50p range).
Granted it is someway behind Kew Gardens, which has a mintage figure of just 210,000, but it is the only other UK commemorative circulation 50p coin with a mintage under 2 million.
Good news for Beatrix Potter Fans
Unlike the 2016 Beatrix Potter 50p coins, the good news is that all the 2017 coins have a consistent mintage figure. In 2016 the Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p had a substantially lower mintage figure than the other coins from the series making it very hard for Change Checkers to complete their sets.
All 4 of the 2017 Beatrix Potter coins have a mintage of at least 9.3 million meaning there shouldn’t be any problems completing your 2017 sets.
It’s going to be interesting to see how these new mintage figures affect our Change Checker Scarcity Index update, due at the end of January.
What about the 2017 £2 coins?
As yet, we are still waiting for the mintage figures for the 2017 Jane Austen and 2017 First World War Aviation £2 coins to be released. We’ll be sure to update you as soon as anything is announced.
Own the 2017 UK Isaac Newton CERTIFIED BU 50p
This special 50p coin commemorates the legacy of Sir Isaac Newton, genius of the Scientific Revolution and one of the most famous figures to ever hold the role of Master of the Mint.
Designed by Aaron West, the reverse of this striking coin is based on elements of Proposition 11, in Book One of Newton’s Principia Mathematica. Whilst the obverse features the Jody Clark portrait of Her Majesty the Queen.
This specially struck 50p coin comes securely encapsulated and as a Change Checker CERTIFIED BRILLIANT UNCIRCULATED issue, you’ll know your coin will be protected forever and guaranteed by its Certified Hologram.
Will the Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin become more scarce than the Kew Gardens?
It’s been reported in the media this week that the Sir Isaac Newton coin will become the most scarce 50p in UK circulation.
Will the Sir Isaac Newton 50p become the rarest coin in UK circulation?
A number of outlets have suggested that only 375 coins will be released giving it a mintage figure 560 times less than the Kew Gardens 50p coin.
An unspecified number of Sir Isaac Newton 50p coins were released into circulation in June
However, we can confirm that this is not the case.
For starters, back in June an unspecified number of Isaac Newton coins were released into circulation. Based on the number of reports we’ve had from Change Checkers, we would estimate that this initial release was in the thousands.
It is true that The Royal Mint are releasing a small amount of Sir Isaac newton 50p coins at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire this week. However, the decision to release a low number coins at the birthplace of Newton is to commemorate the 375th anniversary of the scientist’s birth and is not the total amount that will enter circulation.
Further Sir Isaac Newton coins will be released, in a recent press statement The Royal Mint confirmed, “Members of the public from across the UK can expect to see the circulating edition of the coin in their change over the forthcoming months.”
However, at this stage it is impossible to say when and how many of the remaining Sir Isaac Newton 50p coins will enter circulation. The release of circulation coins is driven by demand from the banks.
It is quite possible that this coin will have a low mintage figure, maybe even less than 210,000, the number of Kew Gardens 50p coins. However, based on previous commemorative coin releases, we believe this to be unlikely.
Either way, we hope you have good luck in your search!
We’d love to know if you’ve found the Sir Isaac Newton 50p coin in your change. Let us know by answering our poll:
[polldaddy poll=9839470]
UPDATE: How rare is my coin? The complete Change Checker guide to UK coin mintages
In 2016, we took a look at the mintage figures of all 50p, £1 and £2 coins that have been released. As always, ‘The Change Checker guide to UK coin mintages’ is THE place to check how rare your coins are! Here are the charts listing each coin in order of its rarity.
The Kew Gardens 50p coin remains top of the chart and doesn’t look as though it’ll be shifted any time soon!
Due to the high number of commemorative designs, no definitive design 50p coins were struck for circulation in 2016. Of those commemorative designs, the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit 50p has the highest mintage with 9.6 million pieces. However, some collectors may struggle to complete their Beatrix Potter set as it’s been revealed that only 2.1 million Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p coins were struck, making it the second most scarce commemorative 50p design (excluding the Olympic 50p series)! Squirrel Nutkin has also made it into the top 10 rare 50ps with a mintage of 5 million.
2016 was the first year since 1983 that no round £1 coins were struck for circulation due to the release of the new 12-sided £1 coin, as a result, this chart is now set in stone and the 2011 Edinburgh coin will remain the target for all round £1 coin collectors. But they’ll have to act quickly – along with the other round £1 coins it will disappear from circulation forever on 15th October.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland £2 still remains the only £2 coin to have a mintage of less that 500,000, placing it firmly at the top of the chart.
From the 2016 designs, the First World War Army £2 coin has a very high mintage figure with over 9.5million pieces being struck, making it the second most common commemorative £2 coin ever.
Interestingly, the three Shakespeare £2 coins, ‘Comedies‘, ‘Histories‘ and ‘Tragedies‘ each have a different mintage figure. Over 1.3 million fewer ‘Comedies’ coins were struck than ‘tragedies’, likely having an impact on collectability in the future.
You’ll notice that the Britannia £2 coin isn’t listed, this is because it is a definitive design, however the mintage increased to just over 3.5 million.
It will be very interesting to see how these coins fare in our updated Scarcity Indexes which will be released in July, so keep your eyes peeled for any changes.
And keep hold of your coins – you never know what they might be worth in the future! Remember you can Find, Collect and Swap all your coins for FREE with the Change Checker App: http://www.changechecker.org