The Rarest 50p Coins In The World

I have always liked to collect items. My parents started me with Lego, Later I moved on to Funko Pops and have more recently been collecting coins, Mainly some of the rarest 50p coins in the world.

A few years back I was given an Isaac Newton 50 pence piece as a gift and although not overly valuable at about £5 it was got for me because I am into all things space.

The 50p design for this particular coin by Aaron West depicts one of Newton’s theories. It shows the Sun at the centre and three ellipses as the orbits of different planets.

This design captured my imagination as a space nerd, so I was immediately hooked on collecting rare 50p coins and other coins.

It also made me question what are the rarest 50p coins in the world.

WHAT MAKES A 50-PENCE RARE?

While most coins are only worth the face value sometimes a coin is deemed rare because of a special design or special release.

Mintage:

Most times a coin is deemed rare because of the mintage.

The mintage is the amount of that coin that was produced in that particular year. The 2019 Royal Shield 50p mintage was 122,000,000. This does not make this a particularly rare coin due to the vast numbers in circulation.

This particular 50p coin design was part of a winning competition entry by Matthew Dent from Bangor in Wales.

Six designs from the 1p through to the 50p coin can be pieced together to form a complete image of the Royal Shield of Arms.

It also happens to be the second most common 50-pence piece in circulation.

So as we can see mintage is very important. The lower the figure the more likely the coin is to be worth more than its face value.

Quality:

What is also important is the quality of the coin itself. There are usually 3 ways of measuring this. A circulated coin in average condition. A circulated coin in mint condition and an uncirculated coin.

The first two are easy to work out. In average condition just means as you would find it in your pocket.

A mint condition means it may have been put somewhere like a money pot or in a sleeve to protect it from damage.

Circulated/Uncirculated

An uncirculated coin is one that is made to be purchased by collectors. These are generally to celebrate a certain event in British history.

The best place to buy these uncirculated coins is at the British Royal Mint. They have a big collection of coins to buy as well as some of the rarest 50p coins in the world.

So with all of that being said let’s take a look at my 50p coins list. We can also work out how much they could fetch if you were to sell them.

Consider this to be your rare 50p coin checker if you will.

KEW GARDENS 50P

At the top of the pile is the Kew Gardens 50p piece. This was released in 2009 to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

This 50 pence coin had a mintage of only 210,000 making it the rarest 50p in circulation today.

Possibly even rarer than we think because a lot of these coins were probably taken out of circulation by collectors.

In average condition, this coin will fetch around £65-70. In mint condition, this coin will fetch you around £115 and in uncirculated condition this coin will fetch you around £230. On eBay, one has recently gone for just over £300.

THE OLYMPIC 50P COINS

The London Olympic series released in 2011 is the next set of rare 50p coins available. There were 29 different 50p designs to commemorate the 2012 London Olympics.

Ranging from 1.1 million mintage to 3.2 million they covered the 29 sports being competed for in the Olympic games.

Olympic wrestling with 1,129,500 mintage. Olympic football with a 1,161,500 mintage. Olympic Judo with a 1,161,500 mintage, and Olympic Triathlon with a 1,163,500 mintage are among the rarest of the 29 released and along with Tennis, Goalball and shooting are the most sought-after of this Olympic set.

The football coin will make around £12 in mint condition and £22 in uncirculated condition. The Archery one being less rare with a higher mintage will fetch you around £2.50 for a mint coin and £6 for an uncirculated coin.

BEATRIX POTTER 50P COINS

The 50 pence pieces are designed to commemorate the children’s author Beatrix Potter. There are 15 coins to collect and some are worth more than others again due to mintage factors.

2 of the Beatrix Potter 50p coins have made it into the Royal Mint’s top 10 rarest 50p coins in the world list. The other rare 50p coins are the Olympic game ones above.

The other reason these coins are desirable is because of the cute design that appeals to both children and adults alike.

THE PETER RABBIT 50P COIN

The Peter Rabbit 50p coin is one of the most desirable due to the mintage only being 1,400,000. Remember what I said about low mintage?

Although there have been 2 other Peter Rabbit 50p coins released in different years they were far more common so this 2018 release is pretty rare.

So what is the Peter Rabbit 50p worth?

It is worth around £3.50 circulated in mint condition and around £10 uncirculated this coin gets lots of attention.

THE FLOPSY BUNNY 50P COIN

This coin depicts the character of Flopsy Bunny and along with Peter Rabbit was released in 2018. The mintage is the same as Peter Rabbit as well with just 1,400,000 minted.

So what is a Flopsy Bunny 50p coin worth? Well, about the same as Peter Rabbit as well. Around £3.50 for a mint circulated one and around £10 for an uncirculated one.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S 50P COIN

So onto the coin that I got gifted with.

I love this coin because of the Space and solar system theme. It is recently becoming more and more popular and has had a bit of a price surge as of late.

These special edition 50p coins were issued in 2017 to commemorate the achievements of Sir Isaac Newton, marking the 375th anniversary of his birth.

The minted quantity was 1,801,500 making them pretty rare which is why I was so pleased to own one. The price circulated is around £4 and uncirculated around £12

THE BLUE PETER OLYMPIC COIN

The Blue Peter Olympic coin shows an athlete doing the high jump and was drawn by nine-year-old Florence Jackson after winning a competition on the popular children’s TV show.

Around 2.2 million of the coins were minted in 2011 and released into circulation but an earlier version of the coin was minted in 2009 and is way more valuable. The 2011 version is only valued at a few pounds although the earlier one is a lot more expensive.

So why is the 2009 version more expensive? Well, less than 20,000 of the 2009 version were minted making them one of the rarest 50p coins in the world.

When they were first made you could buy them from the Royal Mint for £1.99 so not many made it into circulation which also means many of these coins are in mint condition.

These coins have been seen on eBay for around £200 but it is valued at closer to the £100 mark which is still an incredible markup on a coin with a face value of 50p.

50TH ANNIVERSARY 50P COINS

In 2019 the Royal Mint released a set of 5 50p coins to commemorate the 50th anniversary since the 50p coin was first released.

These 5 50p coins are the 2019 versions of the 5 most popular coins over the last 50 years and were only available as a set from the Royal Mint. The £90 set is now sold out so your only chance remains to get them from sites such as eBay. I would expect to pay more than the original £90 though.

The main feature is of course the rarest 50p coin in the world which is the Kew Gardens 50p coin. as well as the Girl Guides 50p.

The Scouts 50p, the Roger Bannister 50p and the new 50 pence piece.

A LOOK AT SOME RARE 50P COINS

So I hope this has inspired you to either go out and start collecting rare coins for yourself or to see if you just happen to have any rare 50p coins hidden away in your change pot.

Collecting coins can be fun and if you look after them then it is a nice collection of potentially valuable heirlooms to pass down the generations. If you are lucky they could end up in many years being worth millions.