How did the humble 50 pence piece become Britain’s most collectable coin?

For me, my fascination with the 50 pence coin all started with the 2012 Olympic Games. With the UK hosting them for the first time in over 60 years, the 2012 Olympics ignited our nation’s sense of patriotism as we watched the opening ceremony and revelled in all the fantastic British icons that were included. […]

Why my grandfather loved these rare and unusual coins…

My grandfather was a keen collector and loved showing me his coins, but one piece always sticks in my memory. When he first showed me the outside of the case, I thought I was about to see some very old glasses or a perhaps some remarkably intricate fishing flies. There was no mistaking that, whatever […]

Can you spot the difference between these Sovereigns?

An awful lot of Sovereigns have been issued during Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s reign – over 50 different individual years and that’s before you consider all the various finishes from bullion to Proof. There have been many significant Sovereigns during her record-breaking reign that could lay claim to being the most important QEII Sovereign, […]

How Covid-19 created one of the rarest US Silver Dollars of all time

Official documentation coming out of the US Mint late last month has collectors excited. The Silver Eagle – one of the most collected coins in the world – has just become the talk of the collecting world. According to official US Mint documentation dated April 27, 2020, a total of 240,000 American Silver Eagles were […]

The Queen’s favourite…

It’s fair to say that Her Majesty has an enviable selection of jewellery and she’s certainly keen to display it when the chance presents itself. There is one piece of jewellery that many believe she favours above all the rest. It has been worn by a succession of royal women from the Queen Mother to […]

When grief took over UK coinage

Every coin tells a story. Some have designs loaded with symbolism, such as a sword signalling a country’s strength, wreaths made up of the region or country’s main agricultural crops of the time or an olive branch acting as a symbol of peace. But only once has a monarch’s grief been represented on UK coins. […]

The weird and wonderful coins of the Berlin World Money Fair

Every year, thousands of coin collectors and hundreds of dealers and Mints descend upon the Estrel Exhibition Centre in Berlin for the World Money Fair. It’s a pretty intense few days of one meeting after an other, being shown countless coins – some from countries I’ve never even heard of. So what caught my eye […]

The most talked about coin of all time?

One coin has dominated discussion over the last few months, probably more than any other coin I can remember. And those discussions are not just limited to coin collecting circles and online forums. This has been headline news. Now it’s here. Let me explain why I think this is such an important coin now and […]

Why who we are is important to the coins we collect

Coins are a lot of things – pieces of metal, currency, miniature works of art, an embodiment of our history, national identity. And sometimes they are all of those things and more. Sometimes a coin is issued that just means so much more to you. It’s an intangible thing. The Royal Mint has just issued […]

BREXIT COIN ANNOUNCED: Brand new 50p to be released

A brand new BREXIT 50p coin is to be issued to mark Britain’s exit from the European Union. The Royal Proclamation has just been passed confirming the new coin. Although announced by the former chancellor Philip Hammond in last year’s Budget, this is the first official confirmation from The Royal Mint that the coin is […]