The latest ‘TT Races’ coins have just gone on sale and thousands of collectors will be busy making sure they secure some. But this series of coins has been going for a long time now and there are many others to backtrack on.
It was in 1981 when the first ‘TT Races’ fifty pence was released. Since then, there have been a lot of motorbike-themed coins in large fifty pences, small fifty pences, crowns and (more recently) two pound coins.
The 2022 pair are by no means great. In fact, I would personally say they are two of the weakest designs to date. This is quite surprising in one way….. I mean, after having to cancel the event for two years running because of Covid, I expected the IOM to pull out all the stops when it came to celebrating its return.
On the other hand I am not particularly shocked at all… more modern ‘TT Races’ releases come across as being a shadow of the ‘greatness-that-once-was’ since they were put on two pound coins. Motorbikes just don’t seem to look anywhere near as good as they did on fifty pences.
Irrespective of my opinion, there are still lots of coins to collect if you are intent on getting them all. And many of these are genuinely beautiful releases. There are also a couple of off-shoots to look for; namely the two 2012 fifty pences -‘Enduro Racer’ and ‘Cycling’. I am not sure why, but most people who collect ‘TT’ will also end up buying these!
If you are planning on collecting the whole set, then you will need to be prepared to spend a lot of money. Several of them run into three figures the most expensive one of all will cost you anywhere between £600 and £800. I hope you were sitting down for that morsel of coin collecting info!
The super-pricey coin I am talking about is the 1997 large fifty pence. This was the year that the new, smaller sized coin was introduced so both versions were minted. Due to the cardiac-arresting price tag, many collectors will settle for the smaller 1997 fifty pence and give its big sister-coin a wide berth. And you can’t blame them really.
Another coin in this series worth mentioning is the 1981 fifty pence. There are two different versions of this out there and not everyone realises…. Along the side of the motorbike, one has, ‘RACING’ whilst the other has, ‘RA-RACING’. If you are a stickler for getting all issues or you just have a fondness for oddities, then this one is a must!
Taking cost out of the equation, ‘TT Races’ is fun to collect and it is also enormously rewarding each time you are lucky enough to get yourself a new addition. There are even books out there telling you about each coin. So, what are you waiting for? Go grab yourself a cheap small 1997 version and give your ‘TT’ collection a kick-start 🙂
© Article and images (except where stated) copyright Mik Smith 2022
I didn’t know there were so many to collect
I Only have the isle of man 1997 TT races 50p at the moment, will definitely be on the lookout for more now.
Glad the info was helpful Danielle 🙂 Yes, they are a lovely series to collect.
Super interesting article Mik, thank you 😊
You are welcome Louise 🙂 Thank you.