In 2016, when the first Beatrix Potter coins went into circulation (Yes!!! There really WAS a time when half decent coins went into circulation!!!!), most people knew the Duck was lower mintage.
It didn’t take a genius; you merely had to notice there were fewer of these to be had than the other four in the set (Yes!!! They really DID make out that the five 2016 were a FULL set – before going on to mint about 187 other designs!!!).
Prices went on to reflect this and when the mintage figures were released, Jemima went even higher. In fact, she went so high that her pond in the farmyard was just a tiny speck on the ground!
All was well and everyone knew Puddleduck fetched a tidy price on the secondary market. And it carried on like this until….. 2018. This was the year that the THIRD wave of Potter coins were released (most people choose to simply disregard the crappy second batch…..).
As soon as three of the four 2018 Potter coins turned out to be lower than Jemima, prices began to change.
Of course, people expected the latest Peter Rabbit and Flopsy to rocket. We even thought that Tittlemouse would adopt a handsome street value. After all, each of these was rarer than the Duck. How wrong one can be!
The reality is, the three low mintage 2018 Potter have never really amounted to much price-wise and have certainly never reached the same lofty status that Jemima once did. Meanwhile, poor old Puddleduck rapidly began to lose her monetary altitude. A coin once worth the better part of twenty quid can now be picked up for closer to a tenner. And this meant ‘back to the duckpond’ for Jemima 🙁
‘This was the year that the THIRD wave of Potter coins were released (most people choose to simply disregard the crappy second batch…..)’
But why is this? It makes no actual sense. Here are the mintages for the four coins in question –
2016 Jemima Puddleduck – 2,100,000
2018 Peter Rabbit – 1,400,000
2018 Flopsy Bunny – 1,400,000
2018 Mrs Tittlemouse – 1,700,000
She may have had her heyday, but Jemima is still more expensive than the others – yet she is also more common than any of them (no offence intended Miss Puddleduck….).
Perhaps it was all to do with the initial hype that surrounded the release of the first Beatrix Potter coins? Or maybe it is tied up with the mystique of the Duck? After all, she kind of stands out from all the other characters in the (‘incredibly extensive’) range of coins.
Who knows?
© Article and images (except where stated) copyright Mik Smith 2022
