Mintages
2016 mintage figures just released!
The Royal Mint have just released the mintage figures for the 2016 dated circulation coins.
Mintage figures have been released for the 2016 coins.
These are the new figures:
WW1 Army £2 – 9,550,000
Shakespeare Comedies £2 – 4,335,000
Shakespeare Histories £2 – 4,615,000
Shakespeare Tragedies £2 – 5,695,000
Great Fire of London £2 – 5,135,000
Britannia £2 – 2,925,000
Peter Rabbit 50p – 9,600,000
Beatrix Potter 50p – 6,900,000
Jemima Puddle-Duck 50p – 2,100,000
Mrs Tiggy-Winkle 50p – 8,800,000
Squirrel Nutkin 50p – 5,000,000
Team GB 50p – 6,400,000
Battle of Hastings 50p – 6,700,000
We’ll have a closer look at these figures and come back with a full analysis on Monday with updated graphs so stay tuned!
The £1 Scarcity Index reveals which £1 coins are the rarest
Can’t wait – click here to reveal the UK’s “scarcest” £1 coin
With the Great One Pound Coin Race nearing the finishing line, collectors across the UK are desperate to complete their Round Pound collections.
Historically, change collectors have relied upon mintage figures for their indication as to which coins in circulation are the rarest. But the story is not that simple.
650 million coins lost from circulation
The £1 coin has been in circulation since 1983. During that time a total of 2.2 billion £1 have been struck for circulation. But they are not all still in use.
There are 1.5 billion coins in circulation but probably fewer than 800,000 of the rarest design
The last available figures for coins in circulation, published by The Royal Mint for 2014, suggest that 1,553,000,000 £1 coins are in circulation.
In other words, 650 million of the coins struck no longer circulate, presumably withdrawn over the years as worn or damaged.
The majority of those 650 million coins are from the early issuing years, meaning that although some of those years may have high mintages, the actual number of coins available to collect from your change is far lower. In fact our research suggests that only a little more than half of the early years’ £1 coins are still in circulation. Far fewer if you’re trying to secure one in good collectable condition.
Scarcity breeds scarcity
But even that is only part of the story. Of course, scarcity breads scarcity.
Even before the launch of the Great One Pound Coin Race, we noticed a rise in collector interest for £1 coins on the back of the introduction of the new 12-sided £1 coin. And the demand is always disproportionately high for the more difficult coins. The result is a continued ratcheting up in demand for the rarer coins.
The Change Checker £1 Scarcity Index
That’s why Change Checker launched the £1 Scarcity Index. Rather just relying on mintage figures, we have combined them with the two critical points above – the actual numbers of coins in circulation and real collector demand, measured by Change Checker swap data – to create a unique Scarcity Index for the £1 Coin.
Scaled from 100 to 1, the scores represent the relative scarcity of each coin, with 100 being the most scarce.
So will I ever find the Edinburgh City £1 Coin in my change?
With a scarcity rating of 100, the Edinburgh City £1 Coin is the rarest Round £1 in circulation
With the Edinburgh City £1 Coin topping the Scarcity Index, will you ever actually find one in your change?
Well certainly it won’t be easy – but it’s definitely possible. Our calculations suggest there are probably somewhere between 600,000 – 800,000 Edinburgh City coins still in circulation but as we near the withdrawal date this number is decreasing rapidly. In other words, it is of similar rarity to the recently issued 2015 First World War Navy £2 but far less scarce than the rarest current circulation coin – Kew Gardens 50p, which had a mintage of just 210,000.
On average, it means that you will have to examine roughly 3,000 mixed £1 coins to find the Edinburgh City £1 Coin. But with over 6,000 Change Collectors already listing the Edinburgh City £1 Coin in their collection, it is certainly an achievable goal.
How rare is my coin? The Complete Change Checker Guide to UK Coin mintages
Have I just found a rare coin? It’s a question which collectors ask daily, and to help answer it, we’ve put together these charts listing each coin in order of its rarity.
The Northern Ireland 2002 Commonwealth Games is the rarest £2 coin currently in circulation – in fact the four designs in the 2002 Commonwealth Games series occupy the top ten list. There were only 485,500 Northern Ireland 2002 Commonwealth Games £2 coins minted, that’s just 0.1% of all the £2 coins ever struck!
Others to look out for include the 2015 Navy £2 and the 2015 Britannia £2, both coins have recently been issued into circulation and share joint third place on our graph.
Themes have followed a similar pattern over the years with the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom being represented in cycles. The rarest One Pound coin currently in circulation is the Edinburgh £1 which was part of the series depicting the capital cities of the UK.
The Edinburgh design is the only £1 coin with a mintage below 1 million and by way of comparison, over 443 million Royal Arms shield £1 coins were issued in 1983. The 2011 Cardiff £1 and the 2010 London £1 follow closely behind, so all very sought after £1 coins to have.
Another coin to look out for is The Royal Arms £1. Although this is a common design which is regularly ignored, make sure to look out for one with a 2008 date – that’s actually the fourth rarest £1 coin.
The rarest coin in circulation, of any denomination, is the Kew Gardens 50p. the Kew Gardens 50p has been valued at up to £50 on online market place eBay. Its status as the most scarce coin has been well publicised, and as a result, many are hoarded by collectors. This chart illustrates just how rare it is compared with other Fifty Pence designs.
The Olympic Fifty Pence series is very popular with Change Checkers, but in terms of rarity, there really isn’t much separating the top 10 designs. The Football ‘Offside Rule’ 50p was certainly one of the most talked about designs, and it also narrowly ranks as the scarcest.
So, keep hold of your coins. You never know what they might be worth in the future! And remember you can Find, Collect and Swap all your coins for FREE with the Change Checker App: www.changechecker.org