Do you own the UK’s rarest 50p piece? And it’s not Kew Gardens.
Last week a 50p coin that many thousands of people have found in their daily pocket change started to be sold on e-Bay for prices upward of £100.00. Or to put it another way, 200 times its actual value!
Only 109,000 1992 EC 50p were issued into circulation – roughly half of the Kew Gardens 50p.
It was all because the Royal Mint announced that the Kew Gardens 50p coins is the UK’s most scarce circulation coin, with just 210,000 pieces ever been placed into circulation. The result was a media storm and the inevitable overnight ramping of prices.
Half the circulation of the Kew Gardens 50p
But what few people realise is that there is an even rarer UK 50p piece that was issued in half the number of the Kew Gardens coin – just 109,000 coins.
The coin was issued in 1992 to mark the EC Single Market and the UK presidency of the Council of Ministers – perhaps not the most popular of topics, which maybe was the reason so very few were pushed out into circulation. But of course, its lack of popularity at the time, is the very thing that now makes its Britain’s rarest 50p coin.
Sadly, however hard you search, unlike the Kew Gardens 50p, you will not find this one in your change. That’s because it is one of the old-sized 50p coins that were demonetised in 1998.
The coin itself was designed by Mary Milner Dickens and pictures the UK’s place at the head of the Council of Ministers’ conference table. The stars represent each of the nations’ capital cities placed in their relative geographical position.
But it won’t be the coin’s clever design that will guarantee its numismatic interest for years to come. It is its status as the UK’s most rare circulation 50p is what will intrigue collectors and have them searching and saving up in years to come.
Are you interested in owning the UK’s rarest 50p coin?
The 1992 EC Single Market 50p
Limited stocks of the 1992 EC 50p coin are available from The Westminster Collection for £20.
NOW SOLD OUT
Hi all
Did you know that there are two EEC 50p coins large 1993 and a smaller new size 2009 which is one of the 14 rarest proof coins and all are rarer than the KEW GARDENS.
The Kew Gardens. Montage 210.000
The 14 proof coins only 1.039 sets were sold.
Fact
Les Kent
Email me kent@lesandbarbara.plus.com
I have at lot of the EC Single market large 50p coins
BUT did you know that there is a smaller 27.3mm proof EC coin ?
and as told by the Royal Mint only 1,039 sets were sold making
this coin the rarest.
HI
WENT TO CARDIFF ENJOYED WAIT IN QUEUE TALKING TO LIKE MINDED PEOPLE, FOUND OUT YOUR FAVOURITE PADDINGTON WAS EATING HIS MARMALADE SANDWICH AS I SWAPPED IT FOR THE BREXIT COIN. THE REASON FOR THIS COMMENT IS PERHAPS A TROI OF COINS REGARDING THE EEC COULD BE GOT TOGETHER, THE 1973 HANDS, 1992 TABLE AND 2020 BREXIT, JUST A SUGGESTION. I’M LUCKY BECAUSE I STARTED COLLECTING DECIMAL COINS AS SOMETHING TO DO AFTER OPEN HEART SURGERY JUST PRIOR OLYMPIC RELEASE SO I WAS ABLE TO GET THE TWO EEC COINS PLUS KEW WITHOUT KNOWING THE LATER RARITY VALUE
Hi there, after reading this remarkable paragraph i am as well delighted to share my knowledge here with colleagues.
My daughter has the blue peter high jump one
Hi i have a 2017 Benjamin button 50p is this worth anything
about 25,000,000 were minted, so no it’s face value
Hi, I have a 1904 old Penny, is it worth anything, and pennies and halfpennys from1914 to 1918
Hi Ward, unfortunately we can’t offer valuations however it’s great to have coins in your collection that are over 100 years old and also that span such important dates in our national history. Thanks, Robin.
Hi I have an Edinburgh £1 coin from 2011 and the leek and daffodil £1 coin. I’ve been told they are collectible, is this true?
Hi Emma, yes! The Edinburgh coin is the rarest £1 coin out there. You can see the details on the Change Checker Scarcity Index here: https://blog.changechecker.org/2017/02/20/the-new-1-scarcity-index-reveals-which-1-coins-are-the-rarest/ Thanks, Robin.
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hi i have 3 kew garden coins for sale will sell to highest bid
£1
£70
hi, how much is an eu 1998 50p coin worth? thank you!