Posts Tagged ‘Royal Mint’
Media hype sees Kew Gardens 50p prices sky-rocket
The Kew Gardens 50p is the UK’s rarest circulation coin
The Royal Mint has announced that the Kew Gardens 50p coin is the scarcest coin in circulation today.
The result has been media hype that has seen prices for this everyday circulation coin sky-rocket. The Guardian first reported prices being paid of £24 for this 50 pence coin but since then the Daily Mirror and other media sources have identified coins selling for as much as £120 – 240 times it face value!
Even more incredibly, a Brilliant Uncirculated version of the coin in its original Royal Mint pack, which would have first sold for less than £10, was showing bids of £310 on e-Bay.
So how rare is this coin?
There are 940,000,000 50 pence coins in circulation and just 210,000 Kew Gardens 50p pieces were ever issued into circulation. That means that they account for 0.02% of the 50p coins in circulation. Or to look at it another way, there is just 1 coin for every 300 people in the UK.
It is a pretty rare coin but despite collector interest, most of the coins released are still in circulation, meaning the sharp-eyed collector can still find one for just 50p. So whilst it may be worth a sensible premium if you’re desperate to own one, prices of £100 are frankly absurd.
If I was you, I’d let the hype die down and look again in a month or two.
Read about the 50p that’s even rarer than Kew Gardens>
For more information on the coins in your pocket and change collecting visit www.changechecker.org.
The low-key Christening that’s of high interest to collectors.
Prince George Louis Alexander of Cambridge is set to make his second public appearance in his early life, amid a frenzy of public interest both here and around the world.
However, when the young Prince is baptised at the Chapel Royal in St James, there could be fewer than 60 people in attendance. All the public will see and hear of the 45-minute ceremony is the official photos and a few details which William and Kate choose to release the following day. So far the only photographs are family snapshots taken by Kate’s father Michael Middleton.
Australia have released their own Prince George commemorative coins
William and Kate’s wedding along with Prince George’s birth on 22nd July has been credited with bolstering the popularity of Britain’s Royal family both home and abroad.
Millions of people around the world watched live coverage of the Duke and Duchess leaving the hospital with their sleeping son – the only public sighting of George to date.
Australia and Canada among other Commonwealth countries have issued their own tributes to Prince George as the popularity of the Royal family continues to grow internationally.
In fact, Australia was the first major country to feature an image of young baby George on a commemorative coin – with a design portraying him with his proud mother and father.
Despite being held behind locked gates, royal fans are still expected to descend on St James’ Palace to soak up the atmosphere and wait patiently for a glimpse of the young Prince.
By removing the grandeur of the occasion, there is secrecy and intrigue surrounding the ceremony which has led to a surge in demand from collectors looking for a keepsake from what remains a hugely significant Royal event.
The DateStamp Royal Christening Sovereign is a collector’s favourite
In terms of commemorative coins, limited edition issues like the DateStamp™ Royal Christening Sovereign have been snapped up. Collectors not only look for the history and heritage of a Sovereign which you would expect for a future King, but also recognise the unique appeal of an Official Royal Mail postmark on the day of the Christening which captures the moment forever. With an edition limit of only 495, there has been a last-minute scramble to try and secure one.
Traditionally, it is seen as good fortune to cross a newborn’s palm with a silver coin, which also explains the incredible popularity of the Prince George Silver Proof £5 – struck from Sterling Silver and limited to just 2,013 pieces.
It’s certainly not a day that young George will remember, but for millions of others around the world, the christening of the future King of England is a day to be commemorated.
How well do you know your coins?
Half of Britons don’t know their own coins –
well that’s what the Royal Mint says…
A recent survey commissioned by the Royal Mint suggests that the British population has very little idea about the coins they use every day.
It seems that 17% of people had no idea that Queen Elizabeth II was featured on the obverse (head side) of British coins, with a slightly concerning 4% suggesting it was Queen Victoria and 3% former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
As for the designs on the coins 68% struggled with what was on the penny and perhaps most remarkably practically half of the adult population (48%) were unable to identify the correct number of denominations currently in circulation.
Growing interest in circulating coin collecting
In fact the Royal Mint’s research flies in the face of growing interest in the UK’s circulating coinage. Fuelled by the incredible interest in the Olympic 50 pence coins, that has seen 70% of the 15,000,000 coins that went into circulation disappear – apparently into individual collections – change collecting has gathered considerable momentum over the last couple of years.
In fact there are currently 93 different £2, £1 and 50p coin designs and with only the very latest releases still to make banks and post offices, nearly all are available to collect in your change.
But with so little knowledge about our own coinage, it’s little wonder that some many collectors have turned to www.changechecker.org to track their collection and swap coins with other collectors. With over 75 swap requests being posted each day, we can be hopeful that Britons are rapidly re-educating themselves about their coinage.