New Issues
National UK £5 Coin Ballot Announced
A national ballot has just been announced to enable 1,000 lucky collectors the chance to own the Queen’s 90th Birthday £5 Coin for its face value.
The 2016 Queen’s 90th Birthday £5 Coin
The Royal Mint stopped making the nation’s flagship £5 coins available for its face value in 2012. However, the new ballot means that the British public once again has the chance to own the new UK £5 coin for £5.
The History of the £5 Coin
Traditionally, major British events were celebrated with commemorative crowns, which had a face value of 25p, or 5 shillings prior to decimalisation in February 1971. But in 1990 the face value was increased to £5 to give the coin a value consistent with its weight and size.
£5 coins are the flagship coins of the UK and are used to commemorate some of our most important royal events and anniversaries.
The first ever £5 Crown Coin was The Queen Mother’s 90th Birthday Crown Coin, with other popular issues include The Queen and Prince Philip’s 50th Golden Wedding in 1997, The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Crown in 1999, and the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005.
Commenting on the launch of the ballot, The Westminster Collection Chairman, Stephen Allen said: “I’m delighted to finally be able to offer at least some UK collectors the chance to own the UK £5 coin for its face value”
The ballot opens at 10am on Friday 15th January and will close at 5pm on 29th February.
The ONLY way to own Britain’s new UK £5 for £5
Click here to find out how you can own the 2016 UK 90th Birthday £5 for it’s face value.
Christmas on Coins – Five Festive Stories…
With the festive season underway, Christmas-themed coins and medals are proving popular with collectors again this year.
I’ve taken a look at the stories behind 5 of the most collectible Christmas coins and medals available today…
The star- shaped Christmas coin: 
This Australian festive star-shaped Christmas coin features a beautiful full-colour image of a snow-covered Christmas tree. But what makes it even more special is the hole in the capsule, which allows a ribbon to be tied transforming the coin into a Christmas tree ornament.
Struck from .999 silver in an innovative star-shaped design, this coin would be the highlight of any tree!
The only ‘official’ Christmas coin: 
This coin, featuring a gold-plated Rudolph, can lay claim to being the world’s only ‘official’ Christmas coin. Why? Because it is issued on behalf of ‘Christmas Island’ – a tiny Pacific atoll that is part of Kiribati.
Each year, Christmas Island releases a new edition of this silver crown coin, and they have become some of the most sought after festive coins issued worldwide. After all, you can’t get more authentic than a Christmas coin from Christmas Island!
The fastest-selling and most collectible coins in the world:
The Royal Canadian Mint Silver $20 Coins have become a collecting phenomenon. First issued in 2011 they became some of the fastest-selling, most collectible coins of all time.
The very first mintage of 200,000 coins sold out within 29 days – that’s 7,000 coins a day.
Both of these coins have sold out in Canada and it’s unlikely to be long until they sell out in the UK too.
A moving Christmas tribute:
The French Mint, La Monnaie de Paris, have issued a medal to pay tribute to the soldiers of the First World War.
The artistic masterpiece features a design that represents the Christmas Truce – showing a scene of rare peace and goodwill between enemy soldiers in the trenches.
The Christmas Truce was a series of widespread but unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front around Christmas 1914. In the week leading up to the holiday, German and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk.
Roughly 100,000 British and German troops were involved in the unofficial cessations of hostility along the Western Front.
The Snowman and the Snowdog:
Everyone is familiar with the magical Christmas story of The Snowman and The Snowdog. Last year, the Isle of Man issued a crown-sized coin featuring the loveable characters from the 2012 sequel film to Raymond Briggs classic story.
The Snowman and The Snowdog is a 2012 animated short film. It is the sequel to The Snowman, and was created to mark the 30th anniversary of the original short film. The Snowman and The Snowdog is dedicated to John Coates, the film’s producer, who died in September 2012.
If you’re interested: 
If you fancy adding a Christmas coin to your collection, or perhaps as a gift, we have just 24 star-shaped Christmas Coins available.
The world’s FIRST EVER rotating coin has arrived…
New Zealand have announced an exciting new coin – not only does it celebrate the record-breaking reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II but it is also the world’s first ever rotating coin…
Take a look at our video below where Bill goes into a little more detail about this unique spinning coin.
If you would like to own one of these rotating coins, we have managed to get hold of 170 for UK collectors.
Numismatic ‘firsts’ like this are always sought-after and the whole edition limit of 2,015 has been fully allocated worldwide.
***NOW SOLD OUT***