2019 Fifty Pence

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Twenty-one different 50p coins issued in 2019! We had the standard shield reverse coin, a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle commemorative, Gruffalo x2, Stephen Hawking, yet another Peter Rabbit, two more Paddington bear, a re-issue of the original ‘NEW PENCE’ 50p (dated 2019) and re-issues of four other random designs from previous years, that, with the ‘NEW PENCE’ coin make up the first set of five coins to ‘commemorate’ the introduction of the 50p coin in 1969. Another set of five re-issue design 50p coins appeared later in 2019. Oh, and another ‘Strike Your Own’ based on the original Britannia 50p (this time with a mint mark and marked angles). To round it all off we had a further Snowman and a Wallace and Gromit for good measure. Twenty-one different 50p coins made during one year – let that sink in for a while.

Most of those will never actually appear in circulation and will therefore never be used as coins – you have to buy them if you want them, and where’s the fun in that? RM (Royal Mint or Royal Monopoly?). Most recent 50p’s seem to be aimed at kids and many are commercial joint ventures made in conjunction with the rights owners to whatever characters they think will be commercially successful. To me, it’s just about large commercial interests and making lots of profit, whatever coin designs happen to sell the most is irrelevant, they are knocked up, hyped up and then they move on to the next one.

Clearly people can’t get enough of them though, and they rally-round to buy anything and everything the Royal Mint produces (there must be a demand, or they wouldn’t keep producing them), just because they feel they need to, due perhaps in part to social media pressure or the basic need some people feel to own a ‘complete collection’, or for many it’s to put them on eBay – sometimes before they even arrive – in the hope of turning a quick profit. It has become very tiresome and even collectors that have bought Royal Mint products for many years or even decades, are getting a bit bored with it all by now – I certainly am, and if I didn’t have to buy each coin in order to produce pictures, I wouldn’t touch most of them with a Guinness Book of Records spec barge pole.

Ask yourself this: Are you really a coin collector, or are you simply a coin consumer?

Without further ado though, here are the glorious 2019 50p’s in full:

Obverse Type 6 (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark, dated 2019):

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Reverse Type 4 (design by Matthew Dent):

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Mintage for Circulation: 122,000,000.

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

The obverse portrait of the Queen by Mr Jody Clark was introduced in March 2015 and was used on all Queen Elizabeth II circulating coinage up to her death in 2022. It is the fifth portrait of the Queen used on coinage.

The reverse design, by Matthew Dent shows the bottom part of the shield of the Royal Coat of Arms.

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 70: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by Stephen Raw):

Mintage for Circulation: 8,602,000.

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

A coin to mark the birth, 160 years ago of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes, is shown in silouhette on the reverse with small text surrounding him listing the titles of the Sherlock Holmes series of publications. This is one of only two fifty pence coins (the other being the standard shield reverse coin) that appeared in the 2019 BU annual coin set.

This is the official Sir Arthur Conon Doyle website: https://www.arthurconandoyle.com/

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type Retro 50th, coins 1 to 5: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark, common to all of the 2019 50th anniversary base metal coins):

Reverse Type 1 (design by Christopher Ironside, originally produced 1969 – 1981):

Reverse Type 2 (design by Christopher Le Brun, originally produced 2009):

Reverse Type 3 (design by James Butler, originally produced 2004):

Reverse Type 4 (design by Kerry Jones, originally produced 2007):

Reverse Type 5 (design by Jonathan Evans and Donna Hainan, originally produced 2010):

Mintage for Circulation: None for circulation. These five coins were included in special sets only, initially only in gold or silver proof form, but the Royal Mint sold out so quickly that they decided to cash-in further by producing and selling sets of the five coins in ‘BU’ form, much to the disappointment of those that had already purchased a proof set for its perceived exclusivity. The ‘NEW PENCE’ coin was also made available as a ‘Strike your own’ at the Royal Mint Experience centre.

Collectability/Scarcity: 3 (for scale details see here) currently inflated prices due to the 1.8m mintage figure, which is rather a lot!

The story behind the designs:

The reverse designs have all appeared before. The ‘NEW PENCE’ coin was the original 50p reverse (albeit originally as a larger sized coin). The other four are seemingly randomly chosen 50p reverses from the last 15 years. The ‘Kew’ coin was also included, which also means that it is potentially possible to fill that particular gap in your collection (the Kew coin is hard to find in circulation) for a lot less than the original 2009 Kew 50p sells for second hand.

Later in the year another set of five 50p coins will be sold and will include the following coins: D-Day (1994 TYPE 3), Victoria Cross Award (2006 TYPE 10), Victoria Cross Heroic acts (2006 TYPE 11), Battle of Britain (2015 TYPE 15) and the Battle of Hastings (2016 TYPE 50).

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 71: (info on coin type numbers here)

Reverse Type (design by Christopher Ironside):

Mintage for Circulation: None for circulation.

Collectability/Scarcity: 3 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

Coin type 71 in the printed book is the ‘Strike Your Own’ version of the ‘NEW PENCE’ coin as shown in the five coin series above. As this coin was available separately it has a type number in the book, but is essentially exactly the same coin as that in the set – just with different package engineering.

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 72: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by Axel Scheffler of Magic Light Pictures Ltd):

Mintage for Circulation: None for circulation.

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

Another children’s character theme; and it would seem the Gruffalo draws level with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes in warranting a special 50p during 2019! The Gruffalo series of books first appeared twenty years ago, so that means at least two generations of people (and their parents) that the Royal Mint marketing people hope to sell this product to.

Here’s the best selling Gruffalo book on Amazon (and I’m going to cash-in on it too, via this special affiliate link): https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-First-Gruffalo-Little-Library/dp/0230756050/ref=sr_1_4&tag=predecimalcoi-21

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 73: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by Edwina Ellis):

Mintage for Circulation: None for circulation.

Collectability/Scarcity: 2 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

The recently departed and very clever man Stephen Hawking is commemorated on this coin, which features an artists impression of a black hole, the name ‘STEPHEN HAWKING'(tm) and some kind of mathematical formula , which I think relates to time. The Royal Mint state that there will be more scientist themed coins (this year or next, who knows). I can’t link to the Stephen Hawking official website, as it’s not ‘secure’ and would affect my own google status. It’s this:

http://www.hawking.org.uk/

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 74: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by Emma Noble):

Mintage for Circulation: None for circulation.

Collectability/Scarcity: 2 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

They said they wouldn’t, but they have. Another Beatrix Potter themed coin, and another variation of Peter Rabbit. The Beatrix Potter themed coins first appeared in 2016. There are rumours that there will be more to come.

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 75: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by David Knapton):

Mintage for Circulation: 9,001,000.

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

Another Paddington Bear themed coin (there were two different ones in 2018 for his 60th anniversary and clearly they were a sales success). This one shows him at the Tower of London.

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 76: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by David Knapton):

Mintage for Circulation: 9,001,000.

Collectability/Scarcity: 1 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

And another Paddington Bear themed coin. This time at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 77: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by Magic Light Pictures Ltd):

Mintage for Circulation: None, this coin will not appear in circulation.

Collectability/Scarcity: 2 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

A second Gruffalo coin, this time with a mouse.

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 78: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by Christopher Ironside with additions):

Mintage for Circulation: None, this coin will not appear in circulation.

Collectability/Scarcity: 2 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

This coin is a ‘Strike Your Own’ coin, available only on the Royal Mint Tour (and then on eBay, Facebook, Gumtree etc). This one is to mark the 50th anniversary of the 50p and its revolutionary shape. It is very similar to the previous SYO Britannia design 50p but has subtle differences including angles marked A – G and what the Royal Mint have termed a ‘Privy Mark’ to the right of the ’50’.

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type Retro 50th, coins 6 to 10: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark, common to all of the 2019 50th anniversary base metal coins):

Reverse Type 6 (design by John Mills, originally produced 1994):

Reverse Type 7 (design by Clive Duncan, originally produced 2006):

Reverse Type 8 (design by Claire Aldridge, originally produced 2006):

Reverse Type 9 (design by Gary Breeze , originally produced 2015):

Reverse Type 5 (design by John Bergdahl, originally produced 2016):

Mintage for Circulation: None for circulation. These five coins were included in special sets only.

Collectability/Scarcity: 3 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the designs:

The reverse designs have all appeared before. Coins 6 – 10 all have a military related theme.

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 79: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by Snowman Enterprises):

Mintage for Circulation: None, this coin will not appear in circulation.

Collectability/Scarcity: 2 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

Another Snowman coin. The original Snowman 50p was issued in 2018 to mark the 40th anniversary of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman book. Obviously that coin was a good seller, so they decided to make another a year later, just for the sake of it.

 

Commemorative 50p coin, Type 80: (info on coin type numbers here)

Obverse Type (bust design by (Mr) Jody Clark):

Reverse Type (design by Nick Park):

Mintage for Circulation: None, this coin will not appear in circulation.

Collectability/Scarcity: 2 (for scale details see here)

The story behind the design:

This one marks the 30th anniversary of the popular Wallace & Gromit stories. The inscription CASEUS PRAESTANS means ‘excellent cheese’. This is the official Wallace & Gromit website: https://www.wallaceandgromit.com/

 

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