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With the 50th anniversary of the 50p piece taking place this month, keen coin collectors have been eyeing up ex-change from Jersey and Guernsey that could now be worth a pretty penny.
The 50p was the first seven-sided coin to be minted in the world, and caused quite a stir at the time.
Since then, its design has taken hundreds of forms over the years, including a linked hands emblem to mark Britain’s joining the EU, and a new coin is planned for next year to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics.
But few of the silvers have sparked such interest among numismatists – as coin collectors are otherwise known – as those from the Channel Islands.
Pictured: Jersey and Guernsey's 50ps spark much interest among coin collectors.
Jersey and Guernsey’s 50ps pique interest in the community due to their very low mintage figures.
Since the 50p was introduced, both islands have only struck coins featuring two different designs. In Jersey, the ‘shield’ and ‘Grosnez Castle’, in Guernsey, ‘the Ducal Cap’ and the ‘Freesia’.
The UK mint released 23,583,000 ‘Britannia’ 50ps in 2003. By comparison only 10,000 ‘Grosnez Castles’ went into circulation in 2003.
Guernsey’s 1987 ‘Freesia’ is even rarer, with just 5,000.
Pictured: Previous special edition 50ps.
It’s the first editions that arouse the most interest, however – so much so, that Jersey and Guernsey’s Treasuries were asked for permission to produce an exclusive collection of 1,969 of the 50ps in circulation in each island when they were first issued in 1969.
The Jersey coin designed by George Kruger Gay shows the island’s ‘three leopards’ coat of arms on the reverse, whilst Guernsey’s features Anthony Wagner’s Duke of Normandy’s Ducal Cap.
Both feature Arnold Machon’s portrait of Her Majesty the Queen.
The ‘new’ 1969 coins don’t come cheap, though, being sold by the Westminster Collection at £125 – 250 times their face value - so it might be worth rummaging behind the back of the sofa to see if you have an original tucked away.
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