SERIOUSLY Expensive Coins

  There comes a time whilst collecting, that one must bite the bullet.  When your coin stash reaches a certain point it is necessary to decide just how much further (if any further) it is going to go…..

  I say this because (as I have covered in other posts) it is a jolly expensive old business, especially if you are the type of person who insists on having all definitives to complete those date runs.  Some of these may be fairly pricey….. but they are still standard coins.  And it gets worse!  Because beyond the realms of standard coins are a select few which make all of those low mintage definitives seem like nothing……

  If you are a real stickler and are hell-bent on having all releases in order for things to feel properly complete, then I feel for you.  I mean that; I really do.  Because not only are some of these incredibly hard to find, you will also have to be very aware of fakes.  And after that part….. it is going to cost you a lot of money indeed.

  Here are a few of the most eye-watering ones of all.  And take note – I am only talking about UK coins today!

‘Blue Peter’ 50p

This is exactly the same as an Olympic ‘Athletics’ fifty pence except for the date on it.  Instead of it being 2011, it is 2009.  This is because Florence Jackson won a competition run by the kids programme that year and her prize was to have her design featured on a fifty pence.

Consequently, these were originally sold in special Blue Peter packs (I dread to think how cheap they were back then!)  Over recent years these have rocketed in price and it will now cost you the best part of £300 to snaffle one.

‘Undated 20p’

Dates again….. but this time it is centred around the lack of one.

Back in 2008, when Matt Dent’s new ‘Royal Shield Section’ became the new standard reverse, someone at Mint dropped a right old clanger.  Basically they forgot to change the die for the obverse of the coin which meant….. some undated ones got out.

It is unclear just how many and it is also unclear just how long this ‘someone’ was spanked for.  But it has resulted in collectors paying between £40 and £80 to get one.  That is quite a wide price window I know; but the value of this coin has always fluctuated quite a bit.

‘40 Years of the 50p’ Set

We all know about the ’50 Years of the 50p’ set but few of us will be aware The Royal Mint had already celebrated four decades of the coin…. well…. er…. one decade before.

Tracking these down is really not very easy at all.  And as far as I am aware, they were not issued in brilliant uncirculated.  The nearest you will get to this is a proof set of these sixteen coins (all dated 2009).  The mintage of these was 5,000.

This release included – ‘Royal Shield Section’, ‘Victoria Cross – Soldier’, ‘Kew Gardens’, ‘Scouts, ‘Victoria Cross – Medal’, ‘Dictionary’, ‘Roger Bannister’, ‘Suffragette’, ‘Libraries’, ‘NHS’, ‘EEC Presidency’, ‘EU Stars’, ‘EC Hands’, ‘Britannia (Fifty Pence)’, ‘Britannia (New Pence)’, ‘D-Day’.

If you are lucky enough to find a proof set then you can expect to pay about £1,000 for it.

‘Aquatics – Original Design 50p’

Ah….. virtually every coinie in the country is aware of the infamous ‘Faceless Swimmer 50p’.  It is also common knowledge that there are thousands of fake ones out there.  From a criminals’ point of view, these are great ‘fast cash’.  Considering how they will normally change hands for a grand or more makes them a great target for any half-decent forger!

Anyway, if you don’t know the rest…..

This was the original design for the Olympic ‘Aquatics’ 50p.  However, shortly after starting the minting process, someone at RM decided that the design was unclear and there were too many lines across the swimmer’s face.  So they stopped production, remedied the picture and then continued with the updated version.  Meanwhile a few slipped the net and found their way out to customers.  There is no official mintage amount but a lot of folk think about 600 got out.

© Article and images (except where stated) copyright Mik Smith 2022

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