UK coins
The 20p coin that could make you a mint!
Have you ever noticed something particularly unusual about one of your coins? Perhaps a missing date, denomination or an error in the design?
Well, that’s what happened to one collector who noticed something unique about their 20p coin…
A ‘spectacular error’
The 20p in question was minted in 1990 for a British overseas territory, and was sold as part of a set. However, instead of having the usual cupro-nickel finish, it was struck on a copper-plated blank intended for a different country.
Credit: SWNS
Collector, Alun Barker saw this unusual coin listed on eBay in December 2017 and bought it for just £50. But he was pleasantly surprised when, just a month later in January 2018, the coin was confirmed as a genuine error by The Royal Mint, who issued a certificate of accreditation. They also confirmed it was the only known 20p in existence with with error, making it one of a kind!
Exceeding expectations at auction
Alun decided to have the coin valued by specialists, Tennants Auctioneers, who initially estimated it could fetch as much as £1,200 at auction. However, when he decided to part with the coin in August 2023, Alun was astonished to find out it had sold for a whopping £1,400!
Credit: tennants.co.uk
Not the first rare 20p error…
The ‘Bronze 20p’
In 2017, collector David Crosier found a 20p coin with an unusual finish, which he assumed to be bronze plated. He sent the coin to The Royal Mint to check, and after x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, they confirmed it was a genuine minting error.
Somehow, a 1p blank had made its way into the presses and a 20p was mistakenly struck onto it.
Find out more about this extremely rare error coin >>
The undated 20p
Considered by many as the ‘Holy Grail of change collecting’, the undated 20p is undoubtedly at the top of most serious collectors’ wish lists. In 2008, an unknown number of 20p coins were released into circulation without a date on either the obverse or reverse. This followed a die mix up after the new Royal Shield design was introduced.
The Royal Mint confirmed this was the first time in over 300 years that a coin had entered circulation without a date, making it extremely sought-after by collectors. They also confirmed that, whilst exact quantities are unknown, no more than 250,000 of these undated coins made it into circulation.
These coins have been listed on the secondary market with a value as high as £10m, however you should always check the sold listings on secondary market sites to see how much collectors are actually willing to pay for a coin.
Our latest eBay Tracker shows that the undated 20p is currently selling for around £52.
Find out more about the undated 20p >>
Have you ever found an error coin in your change? Let us know in the comments!
The 2p drought returns…2022 Mintage Figures REVEALED!
One of the biggest numismatic updates of the year comes when the latest mintage figures are announced, and The Royal Mint have just revealed the mintages of all coins that entered circulation in 2022! Each year, when this information is released, we update our Change Checker Mintage charts to see where new circulating coins rank.
We saw millions of almost every denomination enter circulation in 2022, however there was one denomination that you won’t find with a 2022 date in your change…read on to find out more.
50p Mintage Figures
Three commemorative 50p designs entered circulation in 2022, as well as the definitive Royal Shield 50p design. It was a year of ‘firsts’ as the 2022 Platinum Jubilee 50p was the first ever royal 50p to be issued and the Queen Elizabeth Memorial 50p was the first ever UK coin issued bearing King Charles III on the obverse.
With the Queen Elizabeth Memorial 50p marking a new era of coinage featuring the King, many collectors old and new were excited to find it in their change. We opened our collector map to track where they were popping up across the country, and it turned out the place most people found one was Newcastle!
Find out where the rest were found >>
Despite these new coins being extremely sought after amongst collectors, the 2009 Kew Gardens 50p remains at the top of our chart, with a circulating mintage of only 210,000!
£2 Mintage Figures
After 2016, there was a 4 year period where no new £2 coins, either commemorative or definitive, entered circulation, however this changed in 2021 when 6,045,000 Britannia £2 coins were released into circulation.
The newly released figures show that in 2022, 4,030,000 Britannia £2s entered circulation, and although the amount is considerably lower than the previous year, it is indicative that there is a demand for £2 coins.
We still haven’t seen any new commemorative £2 coin designs enter circulation since 2016, however, when this does happen next, it’ll be the first to feature the King on the obverse – another collecting ‘first’!
2022 Definitives
The mintage figures for 2022 dated definitive coins were also revealed…
- Nations of the Crown £1: 7,735,000
- Royal Shield 20p: 42,875,000
- Royal Shield 10p: 38,000,000
- Royal Shield 5p: 42,800,000
- Royal Shield 2p: 0
- Royal Shield 1p: 30,000,000
As mentioned above, you might notice something odd about one of the denominations’ mintage figure – the Royal Shield 2p doesn’t have one! But this isn’t the first time that the 2 pence piece has had a mintage figure of zero.
No 2p coins entered circulation in 2018, 2019 or 2020, however it made a comeback in 2021 with a whopping 117,700,000 entering circulation. Despite its resurgence in 2021, it seems that the 2p drought could be returning – hopefully not for 3 years this time!
It’s always exciting when new mintage figures are revealed and you realise just how rare the change in your pocket really is!
Have you been lucky enough to find any 2022 dated coins in your change? Let us know in the comments!
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
How are your coins Quality Assured? The Trial of the Pyx!
As Change Checkers, we love it when new coins are issued. But how are they quality assured? And what processes do they have to go through before ending up in our collections or our pockets?
Since 1282, an independent procedure called the Trial of the Pyx has been responsible for ensuring that newly minted coins (both circulating and commemorative) meet the legal specifications for weight, size and metallic composition. The process takes place annually and can take 2-3 months to complete, but how exactly does it work?
Credit: Matt Brown, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Phase 1: The Opening
After striking, The Royal Mint randomly selects coins from each batch of denominations to be quality assessed. These coins are sealed in bags of 50 and stored in Pyx chests until the day of the trial.
On the day of the opening ceremony, the Pyx chests are transferred to Goldsmith’s Company Hall in London. The ceremony is presided over by the senior judge in the Court of Justice, the King’s Remembrancer, giving the trial the status of a Court of Law.
Credit: Firebrace, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Did you know? The word Pyx comes from the Latin word ‘Pyxis’, meaning small box.
The trial jury, which is made up of Liverymen and more senior figures of the Goldsmiths’ Company, open each sealed bag of coins and place 1 into a copper bowl for testing by the London Assay Office, the remaining 49 are placed into a wooden bowl to be weighed.
Phase 2: Testing
The coins selected for testing are sent to the Assay Office where they are compared against a Trial plate. These metal plates, made of gold, silver, platinum, nickel and zinc, are held at the National Measurement and Regulation Office. The oldest surviving Trial plate, from 1477, resides in The Royal Mint Museum.
Credit: The Royal Mint
Next, the base metal and precious metal coins are separated, with the base metal ones going through X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry, and the precious metal ones sent for laboratory chemical testing. The main purpose of these tests is to break down the coins’ composition to check their metal content meets specifications.
Phase 3: Verdict
After rigorous testing, the Assay Office decide if the coins meet all specifications set out in the Coinage Act or by Royal Proclamation. Their recommendations are passed to the Senior Master and the King’s Remembrancer, who instruct the Goldsmiths’ Company.
Credit: The Goldsmiths’ Company
The final verdict is delivered to the Chancellor of the Exchequer or their deputy and the Deputy Master of The Royal Mint.
The oldest judicial procedure in the country
The Trial of the Pyx dates back as far as the 12th century, making it one of the oldest judicial procedures in the country. As such, should the coinage be found to be substandard, the punishment for the Master of the Mint would be a fine, removal from office or even imprisonment!
Luckily however, modern coin production processes have become far more reliable, therefore the last Master of the Mint to be punished was Sir Isaac Newton in 1696. Newton was, of course, celebrated on the Sir Isaac Newton 50p in 2017, a coin that quickly become popular with collectors. Find out what makes this coin so interesting >>
Did you know about this process? Or perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to attend the trial as a spectator? Let us know in the comments below!